Senran Kagura: Chosen by Light
by Frotendo
Summary: When ordinary exchange student Jake becomes the reincarnation of a legendary shinobi, he must train with his new classmates to hone his skills and prepare for his destiny (and hopefully find love as well).
1. Chapter 1

**UPDATE- 3-28-15: Fixed Spelling &amp; Grammar issues/ other upload problems, removed unnecessary shit.**

**Original Publication Date:11-13-14**

**Author's Note: When I first found out that a game called Senran Kagura Burst was coming out for Nintendo 3ds in November 2013 last year, I was indifferent towards it. To me, it looked like it was just eye candy and would have no substance in it, but decided to keep an eye on it. When a review for it came out on Nintendo Life, I clicked on it thinking the game was going to be mediocre and given a terrible score: how wrong I was. The review gave the game a fair and positive score of 8/10, saying that despite it's risqué visuals, occasionally repetitive gameplay, and obvious fanservice, the game excelled in it's compelling story and well thought-out/intriguing characters, with each girl's backstory and personality unique and on occasion even downright sad. After I finished reading the article, I bought it off of the eshop once I had enough credit for it, and upon playing it for the first time, I knew that I was going to be one of my favorite game series I've had the joy of playing. Nearly a year has passed since I bought it and I already acquired two of the manga volumes, watched the first couple episodes of the anime (which unfortunately had a mediocre English dub from funimation), and after being on the fence since it first released, decided it was time to buy a vita console when marvelous aql announced they were bringing Shinovi Versus to "The States", as well as so I could play other games like Gravity Rush, Tearaway, Escape Plan, and others that I have been keeping track of since the console's initial release. After learning about fanfictions (the good &amp; bad parts), I decided to start brainstorming ideas about possible fanfics that I could potentially write, and after nearly 8 months as an idea with various developmental stages, I decided to write a fanfic related to this series I hold dear alongside Pokemon, Smash Bros., and the 3D marios (excluding 3D Land &amp; 3D World because they suck, IN MY OPINION). **

**Anyways, I hope you enjoy the first chapter of my first fanfic, and I hope to hear good reviews, but won't be expecting them.**

**Chapter One**

**The New Student**

Long ago, during Japan's Feudal Era, a class of mercenaries was created with the task of performing espionage, spying, assassinations, and other deeds requested by potential customers, most of them being warlords and politicians. These mercenaries were known as "Shinobi", better known as "Ninja" to westerners. Some shinobi fought to preserve the peace and uphold stability of the land as well as protect the people. They were known as "Zennin" or "Good Shinobi". But others became shinobi for personal gain and reputation and were often known to cause chaos and unrest to anyone who stood in the way of their ambitions. These Ninja were known as "Akunin" or "Bad Shinobi". These Factions have been constant enemies and were always warring with each other, as they had different beliefs and stood for different ideals.

There were also two legendary shinobi during the beginning of shinobi history. They were brothers who were also the two first shinobi to exist. One was named Yami, the older brother who started the Dark Shinobi faction who represented anger &amp; hatred, and controlled the natural element of Shadow. The younger brother was named Hikaru, who created the Light Shinobi faction and represented peace, radiance, and love, and controlled the natural element of Light. One day they fought each other in an ultimate battle to prove whether good or evil was the most powerful force on Earth. After a harsh and epic fight, Hikaru emerged the victor, but before Yami died, the older brother told Hikaru that he would eventually reincarnate sometime long after the younger brother had passed of old age, and that his next incarnation would ensure his revenge in the future. Despite being saddened by his brother's demise, Hikaru spent the remainder of his life travelling across medieval Japan spreading the teachings of ninjutsu to those who wished to to become strong to protect their loved ones and seek enlightenment. A temple was built on a patch of land to ensure that Hikaru's eventual reincarnation would learn of his destiny and help break down the barriers of good and evil rather than temporarily dispose of it as he had done. He then passed away, hoping his reincarnation would arrive at the proper point in time to rectify his mistake and bring true peace to the world. The good and evil shinobi would spend several more centuries publicly battling each other until the 1860's.

Several centuries after Hikaru's passing, during the Meiji Restoration of Japan, with the influx of Western influence and the advancement of technology, shinobi culture was no longer of any use and was promptly disbanded, eventually fading into the obscurity of time. Fast forward to the present day, despite shinobi history eventually becoming public knowledge to both modern Japanese and foreigners alike, it was widely assumed that covert activities have long since been discontinued.

However, in reality, shinobi were still training and honing their skills like always and performed essentially the same tasks their ancestors did. However, they were much more discreet about their presence and are completely unknown to everyone sans a select few individuals. Schools were set up to teach the new generations of shinobi the techniques and essentials of their profession.

One of these schools is called Hanzo. National Academy. On the surface, it appears to be a normal Japanese boarding school, but it's true purpose is to secretly train shinobi students the essentials of their chosen career, honing their skills to ensure they will succeed in their missions. There are currently five kunoichi students in the small class who have great potential, but a lot to learn. Little do they know that Hikaru's reincarnation is about to be discovered and join the five girls as "Hanzo's Sixth Shinobi". The only questions are "Who is this person?" and "What is he like?".

**Hanzo Academy**

**Principals Office**

**11:49 PM**

It was close to midnight and a man named Kiriya had been summoned by the School Principal, H. Hanzo, to inform the teacher of urgent matters.

"You called me here, Sir?", asked the man known as Kiriya.

"Indeed.", replied the older man known as Hanzo.

Before Kiriya could speak again, Hanzo said something that had Kiriya utterly shocked.

"Hikaru's successor will make himself known in the near future."

Kiriya was speechless at his superior's statement. The Legendary Light Shinobi died centuries ago and countless people tried to claim they were Hikaru's reincarnation, but were unable to perform any techniques or powers used by the Legendary Shinobi of Light. They were all dismissed due to their inability to verify their claims, and life continued as if nothing significant happened. What would cause Hanzo to believe that the true successor undoubtedly has returned?

"What should I be on the lookout for? Any distinguishing features to him?", Kiriya inquired.

"That, I'm afraid I do not know.", replied the old man.

"Then, may I ask- What should we do?"

The old man closed his eyes and breathed a deep breath, then turned towards Kiriya.

"Don't be on the lookout for him. Do what you would normally do if you weren't told this news. He will make himself known to us on his own. One more thing, Kiriya-Boy..."

Kiriya's ears sharpened to take in the last favor.

"It would be best if you kept this to yourself for now and didn't tell your students until after we've found him."

"I understand, Sir."

Hanzo's lips curled into a warm smile.

"Good. You may be dismissed."

And with that, Kiriya vanished in a puff of smoke. The lone person looked out his office window into the night sky.

"I have a feeling our world is going to change tremendously..."

**The Next Day**

**2:37 PM**

It was a bright and sunny day. Despite the cheerful weather, life in Japan for one certain exchange student was more dull than he could have imagined. This exchange student was named Jake. He was currently sixteen years old, originally from California, had fair, light skin, chocolate-brown eyes, and brown, curly hair formed into a small afro. But his most distinguishing feature was his extreme height. Standing at six-foot, two inches tall, he easily stood higher in the clouds than most of the the other students, shocking people when he tells them that he is still not fully grown and is considered tall even by American height standards. He was studying abroad at Hanzo National Academy in order to learn more about Japanese culture, mannerisms, and history for application in his dream career. But rather than being a temporary exchange student, Jake was a full time student who lived in an apartment building in the school's surrounding neighborhood and worked a part-time job to pay his rent.

Jake had been in Japan for nearly two months with almost nothing good going for him. He didn't have any friends who went to school with him, and didn't bother talking with girls due to his quiet, if not, timid nature, who viewed as an otaku with bad fashion sense. It's not like he could relate to these girls anyways, due to different interests and personalities, their rudeness causing him to label them _Valley Girls, _but he still wished he had some friends in Japan outside of the friends at his job.

When school got out for the day, something in him made him decide to take a different route home. He made his way down a dirt path surrounded by lush green forest and was taken in by his surroundings, marveling at how beautiful it was, when he saw something in the corner of his eye.

Standing before him was a young man with wavy sky-blue hair dressed in what appeared to feudal era clothing and appeared to be emitting light off of his body. When the man noticed Jake, he didn't speak and made a motion as if he wanted Jake to follow him. Jake started to follow him but the man kept going faster, eventually getting to the point where Jake had to chase after him so he wouldn't lose sight. Jake went after him through some thick foliage and when his path became clear again, Jake realized the man was gone. He then looked to his side and saw what appeared to be a small outdoor temple that looked positively ancient. Jake didn't know why, but he started to make his way towards the inside of said temple and came across an altar with a mysterious mask being worn by a statue. Jake looked at the mask in awe when suddenly it lifted itself off of the statue's face, levitated in the air and shot straight towards him.

Jake was too close to avoid getting hit by it and wasn't able to move as hit hit him right in the face. But rather than feel pain from the impact of a seemingly hard and heavy metal mask collide into his face as he expected, it instead slowly disintegrated and was absorbed into Jake's body. All of a sudden, a dark, shadowy figure appeared from nowhere and impaled Jake with a long, snake-like appendage seemingly made from darkness. Jake was utterly terrified. He was bleeding profusely and was yelling in pure agony from the nerve-wracking sensations painfully coursing throughout his body. The shadowy figure was about to finish him off when light began to pour out of Jake's body, eventually focusing in between Jake &amp; the shadow creature and was shown to be the man that led Jake to the temple earlier. Releasing a huge burst of light that bathed the surrounding area in it, the shadowy creature became repulsed and fled from the strong light, leaving Jake lying on the ground bleeding to death. Once the light and blue-haired man had faded away, Jake began succumb to unconsciousness, but not before hearing distorted yelling and a small figure leaning over him tears falling from it's face. Then everything went black...

**Kagurazaka Medical Clinic**

**6:23 PM**

Jake suddenly opened his eyes and realized he was in a hospital bed. He noticed there was a tall man with grey hair talking with a nurse and that his torso was covered in bandages. After the nurse had left, the man turned and noticed Jake was awake.

"I see you're finally awake now, young man.", he spoke.

"Yeah, I'm kinda awake and my head kinda hurts. But who are you and where am I?", Jake questioned.

"My name is Kiriya and I'm a teacher at Hanzo National Academy. One of my students found you heavily injured and got my help and you are in the hospital now. You've been out cold for a while now, but the nurse said you will be fine."

"Really?", Jake replied. "I thought I was going to die and that no one would find me in time." Jake began to remember how he nearly got killed. "Now that I remember, my chest was completely torn open, but it doesn't hurt at all right now.", he thought to himself. "Did the doctor use a really effective medicine and stitch me real good?", Jake asked Kiriya.

"Actually, when you passed out, your body began to heal on it's own at an extremely accelerated rate much faster than any other injury of that much damage I've ever seen. Usually an injury like that is a guaranteed death and a doctor wouldn't be able to fix it.", Kiriya stated.

"I guess I'm just lucky that you were there before it ended badly." Jake then noticed that his left arm was being pinned down by something soft. When he looked he saw what appeared to be a girl laying her head on top of his arm, snoring softly as she slept.

"Uh, Mister Kiriya... who is she?", Jake asked while slightly blushing. At this, the girl yawned, opened her eyes, and saw that Jake was awake, and was overjoyed that he was okay.

"I'm so glad you're alright!", the girl teared up while stating how happy she was that he was safe. "When I found you, you were bleeding a lot and I was worried that you were going to die. Master Kiriya found me next to your body and took you here and I decided to wait until you woke up but I must have dozed off and fallen asleep on your arm."

Jake immediately remembered seeing someone kneeling over him crying right before he passed out. Could this girl be that person?

"Thank you for finding me.", Jake said, calming her down. "If it wasn't for you, I wouldn't have gotten medical attention and I would be dead right now."

The girl wiped her tears and smiled widely at him, while also blushing slightly at his gratitude.

"Do you have a name?", she asked.

"My name is Jake. What can I call you other than _Nice_?"

The girl giggled at his sincerity.

"My name is Asuka. It's nice to meet you and I thought that remark was funny and sweet."

Jake and Asuka both grinned when they both remembered what the former had said a moment ago.

Kiriya cleared his throat to get both of the teenager's attention.

"I'm sorry to interrupt but I have to ask you, Jake, how did you end up at that temple in the first place?"

"Well, you're probably not gonna believe me, but alright...", Jake then proceeded to explain how he followed a mysterious glowy boy around his age to the temple, where a mysterious mask was absorbed into his body and a monster attempted to kill him but was driven away by the boy he saw earlier and how he saw Asuka right before he passed out. Kiriya thought to himself, knowing what this all meant. **"The shadowy figure he saw must have been Yami attempting to finish him off before his journey could even begin. This is very unsettling. I don't think he knows of his new role yet, though. It would probably be best to explain everything to him, and hopefully he'll comply."** Finally, after a long pause, Kiriya spoke again.

"Jake, are you familiar with the concept of Shinobi?"

Jake was surprised at Kiriya's question, but answered anyway.

"Yes, I am aware of what they are. But what relevance does that have with what happened to me?"

Kiriya knew he was going to ask this and decided it was time for him to know.

"Jake, what if I told you that ninja training never stopped during the Meiji Restoration, and that to this day, there are still ninja training to become the best in their occupation, and that three of them are standing in this room right now? How would you react?"

Jake immediately looked around the room to see if there were three other people standing in the room with them, but only saw Kiriya and Asuka standing in front of and next to him. Then it hit Jake like Chris Brown's fist to Rihanna's face.

"What? You're shinobi?! The people who run on rooftops, do assassinations and espionage, summon toads, and other stuff like that?!", Jake was reacting with skepticism as any other sane person would react upon hearing what Kiriya said.

"Prove it.", Jake demanded.

"Very well, I suppose seeing is believing...", Kiriya stated. "Pay attention, Jake. I'm going to show you a ninja technique called the clone ninjutsu."

Jake watched closely as Kiriya closed his eyes and inhaled slowly. POOF! There was suddenly a puff of smoke and standing next to Kiriya was another Kiriya, an exact replica that also appeared to be alive and looking at him.

Jake's mind was racing at record speeds from all of the new thoughts constantly appearing in his head. He sported a huge grin on his face. Kiriya and Asuka could tell that it worked. But Jake's face lost it's smile and he spoke again.

"Wait, if you two are ninja, where's the third one?", Jake asked politely.

"It's you.", Kiriya replied. "You are the third ninja in this room."

Jake had a confused look on his face.

"I'll explain to you.", Kiriya spoke. "Asuka. You should pay very close attention as well."

Asuka sat up straight and focused on her teacher. "Yes, Sensei!"

While Asuka listened to Kiriya intently, he told Jake the tale of Hikaru and Yami and how their reincarnations will be destined to fight each other and how Jake is Hikaru's next iteration, and how Yami was the monster that tried to kill him. Asuka became worried upon hearing about who Yami was and silently vowed to protect Jake from him. Kiriya also explained that Hanzo's true purpose was to train shinobi and that he was the teacher for ninja training and had five students in his class, Asuka being one of them, and that Jake would be allowed to join as a sixth student if he so chooses.

"So Jake, what do you want to do?", Kiriya asked, unsure of whether Jake would say yes or no. Jake said absolutely nothing. It was like this for a few minutes, and Asuka was beginning to worry he might say no.

"Hell yes! I accept! I'll train to become strong to protect the people who are close to me, defeat Yami, and bring light to the shinobi world! When do I begin?", Jake asked.

**"He's more enthusiastic than I thought he would be."**, Kiriya thought to himself while smiling. "Well first, what's your current living situation?", he asked.

"Well, I live in an apartment in the neighborhood surrounding the school and I've only got enough money to pay this month's rent, which is due in three days. After that, I won't be able to pay the next month's rent and I'll have to move out. I also have a couple of jobs, one is a part-time job as a janitor at a nearby sushi bar. It pays well, but it's not enough to live on when I'm constantly paying rent, water &amp; electricity bills, and making sure I have enough food."

"I see.", Kiriya nodded. "In that case, you can move into the boys dormitory near our classroom. All of the basic living essentials will be covered for you and we can move in all of your stuff in a few days. May I ask what your second job you said you had earlier is?"

Jake smiled upon being asked this.

"I'm also a part-time freelance artist and some of my art is displayed in galleries. People ask me to paint a certain thing and I paint it and sell it. The money I make from each piece I sell goes to more art supplies, living expenses, and occasional luxuries."

Asuka was enraptured by Jake's revelation about him being an artist and looked at him with admiration that he makes a career off of a hobby/talent of his. She really wanted to see some of his work.

"Jake, that's so cool that you draw and paint for people! I also draw, and maybe you can give me some tips later on and we could draw each other!"

Asuka was so enthusiastic that it caused Jake to immediately get out his sketchbook from his backpack to show her his works. Asuka began to look through it, admiring Jake's artworks.

"Wow, there's a unique way in which you draw. They look simple but detailed at the same time. These are really great!"

Jake thanked her and blushed slightly that a girl was complimenting his work. Now that he thought about it, he never really took a good look at what she looked like. He noticed she had chocolate brown eyes like him and had medium length brunette hair tied into a spiky ponytail in the back. She light skin, but wasn't as light as his own and took note of the fact that she looked extremely cute despite her wearing little to no make-up, which caused Jake to admire the fact that she had natural beauty. It was then that Jake noticed something he can't believe he missed upon first seeing her **(I think you all know what it is, so I'm not going to mention it)**. He immediately became red in the cheeks and looked away before she noticed and became offended, and he felt ashamed that he looked _there_. There was then a loud growling noise that came from Jake's direction. Jake sheepishly laughed when Asuka and Kiriya looked at him.

"I haven't eaten since lunchtime and it's near close to dinner, so that noise was my stomach reminding me that I'll eventually die if I don't eat something."

Asuka immediately got excited and told Jake she had some extra food and was willing to share. She then pulled out her bento box, opened it, and handed Jake a sushi roll.

Despite having no idea what it was, Jake thanked her and bit into it and chewed as Asuka eagerly watched him eat. Jake's eyes began to tear up after swallowing and Asuka was worried that he didn't like it's taste. Asuka was about to get angry when Jake turned to her with tears and sparkles in his eyes and a huge grin on his face.

"I have no idea what this is, but it's the most delicious thing I ever tasted! What is it and where did you buy it?"

"They're called Futomaki rolls...", Asuka relaxed and beamed at the teenage boy. "...and I didn't buy them from anywhere, I made them myself!"

Jake was surprised by this but extremely impressed that she cooked the food he just ate herself.

"Please tell me you have more!", Jake pleaded. He was just about ready to willingly become Asuka's Futomaki bitch.

"Of course! I can make you some fresh ones later when we get back to my house!"

"Yes, Jake.", Kiriya finally spoke up after a long silence. "Asuka's parents have just agreed to let you use their guest room while we move your possessions to the boy's dormitory. You will be switched out of your current classes into my class under the guise of Advanced Placement in two days time. Tomorrow we will see your landlord to pay this month's rent and inform him of the news of you moving out."

"That sounds great, but my landlord's a girl, so I think she will most definitely be offended if you called her a _him_.", Jake and Asuka both laughed at what the former said, while Kiriya was slightly embarrassed at his assumption. After the nurse came by and told Jake he was now free to leave, Kiriya took Jake and Asuka to her parent's house to spend the night.

Before he left, Kiriya told Jake that after tomorrow, Jake would start his first day in Kiriya's class with Asuka and the other students and told him it would be an easy day so that he could acclimate to his new environment and peers. Jake also told Kiriya not to tell his family that he almost got killed and is now the reincarnation of a legendary shinobi. Kiriya said he wouldn't, then bid him, Asuka, and her family goodnight. Meanwhile somewhere in the outskirts of the city, a tall man in a business suit was looking out to the moon from his office inside a huge feudal era castle.

"So, Hikaru's spirit has driven me off before I could finish off the boy.", the suited man bemused. "But it won't matter in the long run. All lights die out eventually, and when it does, darkness will forever be here to stay!"

**So yeah, this is the first chapter of my Senran Kagura fanfic. It was a little short, but I needed to set the scenario before the actual story happened. This story is actually a partial spiritual successor to someone else's SK fanfic that I really liked but was saddened that it never got past two chapters. This story will definitely be a lot more than two chapters long and before you ask, I have no intention of this being a pairing between Asuka and the Original Character. The love interest will be a different Hanzo girl, but you'll have to follow the story to find out who it is. Also worth noting is that the Naruto manga finally ended after a fifteen-year run. I won't spoil the ending to those who haven't read it, but I will spoil that my favorite pairing is officially canon (sorry to those of you who wanted Jiraiya Junior to marry Tsunade the Second, but true love conquers all!). If you liked this chapter, you can leave a review but you don't have to and if you didn't like it, send me a PM telling me why you didn't like it and I'll do my best to improve if it's within my creative reasoning. Don't leave a flame review if you don't like this chapter or story. I'll see you next time and have a nice day!**


	2. Chapter 2

**UPDATE- 3-28-15: Fixed original upload issues, spelling, grammar, etc. Removed unnecessary shit.**

**Original Publication Date: 11-16-14**

**Author's Note: I published my first chapter, but because I have free time on my hands, I decided to put out another chapter. So here you go. Enjoy!**

**Chapter 2**

**The New Student**

After Kiriya had left, Asuka introduced Jake to her parents and showed him to the guest bedroom, where he decided he was going to go to sleep early and bid Asuka goodnight. The next morning, he ate (this time freshly-made) Futomaki rolls made by Asuka for breakfast and after he had said goodbye to her before she headed off to school without him (he didn't have to go to school that day because his schedule was in the process of being changed), he took a shower and afterwards helped Asuka's parents around the house throughout most of the day, until Kiriya showed up during school's lunch break and went with Jake to his apartment so he could tell his landlord he was moving out and pay that month's rent. She said goodbye to Jake and wished him well, but asked Kiriya if they could get coffee sometime. Kiriya said he would let her know and as Kiriya's ninjutsu clones (disguised as different people so others would not be suspicious of there being four Kiriyas at the same time) started moving Jake's stuff to the boy's dormitory, the real Kiriya told Jake all of his stuff would be completely moved in by the time school ended after his first day. Jake asked if he'd have enough room and if it wouldn't interfere with his roommates' parts of the room. Kiriya told him he didn't have any roommates, as all of his students up until Jake's arrival were girls, and that the other beds in the boys dorm had been put in storage so that Jake could have the whole room to himself. At first, Jake was pleased that he had a whole dorm that he didn't have to share, but became bright red when he thought harder and realized he would be the only male in a classroom full of girls (Kiriya didn't count since he was just the teacher). After Jake paid his rent and bid farewell to Akira (the aforementioned landlord), he went back to Asuka's house where dinner was already served and there was even a tiny cake made by Asuka's mother as a welcoming present to the life of a shinobi. After he ate, he helped the family wash the dishes and was invited by Asuka to sleep in her room that night. After they turned the lights out, Jake stared up at the ceiling, wondering what life would have in store for him, now that he was a shinobi.

**The Next Morning**

**Hanzo National Academy Main Quad**

**7:49 AM**

After showering and eating an American Style Pancake breakfast made by Asuka's father, Jake thanked him and his wife for their kindness and hospitality, and he and Asuka headed to school to start Jake's first day of shinobi training. As he and Asuka were walking through the quad, she told Jake about her classmates.

"Do you think they'll like me?", he asked.

Asuka smiled at him.

"Of course they'll like you! But one of them might like you a lot more than normal."

Jake wasn't sure what to make of that last part, but decided to ignore it for the time being. Asuka then started to pull on his arm.

"Jake, come on! If we don't hurry up, we'll be late for class!"

"Don't pull so hard, Asuka. It kinda hurts when you do that. Ow! Hey, Asuka! Ow! Stop! You're gonna pull my arm off!"

As Asuka and Jake hurried into the building, he couldn't help but notice some of the regular students were glaring at him and whispering to each other. Some of the male students were leering at Jake, while he saw the Valley Girls from a couple of months earlier were in bewilderment that a cute girl was playfully dragging him to class, one of them stating jealousy over Asuka's to-die-for body compared to their own noticeably flat chests. Jake couldn't help but have a satisfied feeling that those girls who called him weird have had their self-esteem shaken thanks to Asuka, though she didn't know she did such a thing. As they entered the building, Asuka led Jake through an empty hallway into a door with a school faculty only sign on it's front. They then were in the teacher's lounge where they went through a secret wall door that led into a hallway, where Jake could see the girl's and boy's dormitories, who recognized some of his belongings in the latter room. Kiriya was there and told Jake to wait in the hallway and be quiet while Asuka headed to class.

**Kiriya's Classroom**

**8:01 AM**

As the school bell rang signifying school to begin, a girl with long black hair was looking at the time.

"Class started one minute ago, and neither Kiriya-Sensei nor Asuka is here yet. It's not like them to be late for class.", she noted in surprise. The blonde girl next to her wasn't worried, however, she was still somewhat suspicious.

"I don't think it's anything to worry about, Ikaruga.", spoke the blonde named Katsuragi.

"However...", she continued, "Asuka hasn't been hanging out with us over the last couple of days, always disappearing saying she has important things to do. I have something important to do, too! I haven't been able to fondle her since Wednesday morning, my hands are just itching to feel some skin again!"

Katsuragi was starting to drool now and was making groping motions with her hands at thin air. Ikaruga became slightly annoyed at her friend's odd behavior.

"Is there a reason you always have to harass Asuka? It's probably detrimental for her when you do that to her, and she clearly doesn't enjoy it."

Katsuragi suddenly sported a devious grin on her face and turned to Ikaruga.

"Is someone jealous? Maybe I'll fondle you instead if it makes you feel better, and more importantly, it'll make me feel better!"

Katsuragi was about to pounce on the ravenette but backed off when Ikaruga began to draw her sword with fire in her eyes.

"You're always such a party pooper.", Katsuragi grumbled. Asuka finally arrived to class and greeted her classmates.

"Good morning, Asuka!", said a ribbon-wearing, pink-haired girl named Hibari, one of the other students and a first year. Sitting next to her was a girl with long silver hair tied into two ponytails with shuriken, who had an eyepatch over her right eye.

"It is good to see you again, Asuka.", she said. The silver hair girl watched her classmates with her crimson left eye as she munched on a piece of fried squid.

"Ew, Yagyu. You still eat that stuff?", Hibari turned to the former.

"Don't mock my surume.", replied Yagyu nonchalantly.

After Asuka greeted the two first-years, Katsuragi bolted out of her seat and immediately began groping Asuka's breasts with a gleeful look on the blonde's face.

"Eeeek! Katsu-née, please don't do that right now! Class is about to start!", Asuka cried out.

"No way! This is your punishment for not telling us what you have been up to the past couple of days! Accept your punishment like a good girl!"

Before Katsuragi could fondle Asuka any further, there was a puff of smoke in the middle of the room, which Kiriya appeared from.

"Everyone, please take a seat. Class is now in session.", he spoke. As everyone took to their designated seats, Kiriya briefed them of their schedule.

"Today will be an easy day, so there will be no class work, but there will be open book reading later on."

"Yes! Free Day! I'm so stoked!", yelled Katsuragi as she jumped out of her seat.

Hibari was relieved today wasn't going to be hard, and Yagyu was indifferent towards it all.

Ikaruga was pleased, but curious as to what the circumstances were to call for a free day.

"Not that I'm not happy with having a day off, but what's the occasion, Master Kiriya?", she asked politely.

"The reason why we have an easy day today is because we have a new student joining us.", replied Kiriya.

Everyone in the room was surprised at the news, sans Asuka, who just had a smile on her face.

"Yes.", continued Kiriya. "Due to recent circumstances, this person was chosen to be trained in the shinobi arts to hone their skills."

"What is she like? Is she cute? I bet she's cute!", Katsuragi immediately interrupted.

"This person is a special case, as I stated before.", Kiriya ignored Katsuragi's last question while acknowledging the first.

Ikaruga raised her hand and spoke up.

"Excuse me, sir, but what is her shinobi lineage?"

"This person has no shinobi ancestry and will be the first in their family to become one.", Kiriya replied again.

"Oh, I see.", Ikaruga felt bad about what she said and worried the new student might have heard that and have had her feelings hurt.

Hibari was optimistic that the new student was friendly and had a lot in common with her. She hoped she would be a first year just like her. **"I wonder if she likes sweets and video games, too?"**, she pondered.

Yagyu didn't care what the new student was like, unless she was like Katsuragi. God forbid having two perverted girls in the classroom at once every day!

**"She had better stay away from Hibari...!"**, Yagyu thought to herself.

Kiriya spoke finally spoke again.

"Yes, starting today, _he'll _be joining our class, so I hope you all will help me in welcoming _him _here and making _him _feel comfortable."

It took a minute for everyone except Asuka &amp; Kiriya to realize the new student is a boy.

"THE NEW STUDENT IS A BOY?!", Katsuragi yelled. She was looking down and her golden hair blocked everyone else's view of her face.

"Katsuragi, I'm surprised that our new classmate is a boy, too...", Ikaruga said to her. "But it's nothing to get angry about. We should be celebrating the fact that our class is getting more genderly diverse."

"Angry? What the hell are you talking about, Ikaruga?", the blonde asked Ikaruga as if she was speaking nonsense. "Now I have a new person to fondle! I can't wait to make him squirm and have him become my new boy to-", Everyone gave Katsuragi a death look. The latter decided it was probably best to not finish that sentence.

"Where is he right now?", Hibari asked with curiosity.

"He's been waiting in the hallway this whole time.", Kiriya answered. Katsuragi grinned at this revelation, while Ikaruga's stomach dropped panicking that he might have heard Katsuragi, or what she herself had said about his lineage.

"Jake, you may come in now!"

But there was no reply and nobody came. Kiriya sighed that Katsuragi potentially scared him off. He looked in the hallway and saw Jake standing there but he wouldn't come in.

"Asuka, would you mind getting him?", Kiriya asked.

"Y-yes, sir!", she replied as she hurried into the hallway to convince Jake to come in.

Through the screen door and walls, Asuka's silhouette walked to where the screen ended and stopped. She was talking to someone off-screen. Asuka's shadow stepped back a few feet and a much taller shadow stood next to her talking with her.

"Jake, you were supposed to walk in when he said to."

"I'm nervous and a little scared to go in there. In case you haven't noticed, I'm the only guy in the class and I get shy around girls. Being around one girl is fine with no problems. But five is way too much for me to handle.", Jake stated, clearly nervous. Meanwhile, back in the classroom, the other Hanzo students watched Jake and Asuka's silhouettes talk with each other while listening intently.

"He sounds hella cute. I bet he looks even better!" Katsuragi whispered into Ikaruga's ear.

"Be quiet, Katsuragi. He's probably really nervous and I think you are just making it worse for him.", Ikaruga scolded.

"He sounds really nice, Yagyu-chan. Do you think he can come on a play date with us?", Hibari asked Yagyu with eagerness.

"We'll see, Hibari.", Yagyu replied, wanting to see his appearance first before deciding whether she wants him near Hibari or not.

"Jake, you're going to have to come in.", Asuka tried to pull Jake across the hallway back to the classroom entrance, with Jake resisting, but ultimately Asuka was able to nearly drag him inside.

"But Asuka, I don't want t-"

But before Jake could finish his sentence, Asuka managed to pull him through the doorway. After she pulled hard on his arm and let go, Jake struggled to balance before he could fall. Standing on one foot with his arms spread in between in front of him and his sides, Jake looked forward to see the other students looking at him. He then regained his balance and stood up straight.

"Please introduce yourself.", Kiriya spoke.

"Um. M-my name is Jake. I'll be joining your class from now on and I hope to get to know you all very well.", Jake stammered.

The room was dead silent. Nobody spoke and Jake nervously stood there waiting for one of them to speak. After it seemed like nobody was going to speak up, it was Katsuragi who broke the silence.

"YES! JACKPOT! KATSU-NEE SCORED BIG THIS TIME! HE'S EVEN CUTER THAN I IMAGINED. ROCK THAT 'FRO!"

Everyone facepalmed immediately, except Jake, who, realizing what Asuka had warned him about in the quad, wasn't sure what to make of the situation at hand, so he decided it would be best to just sit down in the empty seat next to Asuka. After Jake took his seat, Katsuragi sat next to him.

"Thank you for your enthusiasm for our new student, Katsuragi.", groaned Kiriya. "We will now open our textbooks to the introductory chapter to refresh Jake's memory of what I explained to him a couple of days ago. Asuka, would you please briefly summarize the history of shinobi?"

"Yes, Sensei!", Asuka sat up straight and began to read aloud from the textbook.

"Elite bands of warriors known as Shinobi first formed during the feudal era. They worked under Daimyos- Feudal Lords, or Landowners. They spied, engaged in subversive activities, and even performed assassinations." Jake was eagerly listening to Asuka, while everyone else followed along, sans Katsuragi, who wasn't paying attention.

"The Meiji Restoration ended feudal society in Japan, and talk of shinobi ceased. But even as times change, old traditions die hard. We still need those who operate in the shadows. Even today, shinobi still perform their duties. To the outside world, Hanzo Academy is merely a huge prep school with one thousand students enrolled. However, alongside the regular students, disciples of shinobi hone their art, completely invisible to their classmates."

Jake immediately raised his hand upon hearing this.

"You have something to add, Jake?", Kiriya asked.

"Um, kinda. But up until today, I was part of the regular student populace. Since I got switched so suddenly, won't people in my old classes be suspicious of why I'm no longer there if they see me again?", Jake wondered.

"That's a good question to ask, Jake.", Kiriya replied, then proceeded to continue explaining.

"A shinobi must be able to remove all traces of themselves so that enemies and normal people won't be able to find them. Actually, all of the teachers at this school are secretly shinobi and kunoichi, but I am the sole teacher that trains ninja students. They work behind the scenes to ensure the school's secret remains safe, but are paid to be teachers to regular students. So be sure sure to treat them as you'd treat me, because they're doing extra work to hide your whereabouts from the other students."

"Yes, sir!", chimed Jake. Kiriya smiled.

"Asuka, please continue."

Asuka took a moment to breathe before moving along.

"Hanzo Academy's private mission is to serve as a national institute for training shinobi. The school was established to create a force to counter the behavior of unsanctioned shinobi. Right now, the shinobi affiliated with the national organization are called _Zennin_, or "Good Ninja", and the ones operating outside the law are known as _Akunin_, or "Evil Ninja"."

"Precisely.", nodded Kiriya. "We Zennin are destined to battle the Akunin. Even as ages pass and governments come and go, the struggle between good and evil will _never _cease."

"That's it!"

Everyone looked at Jake, who wore a confident look on his face for the first time in a long while.

"I'll find a way to end the struggle. If there's such a thing as true peace, I'll find it! I'll end all of the hate and bring peace to the world! That's the one thing I want to happen more than anything! That's _my _destiny as a shinobi, right?"

Asuka looked at Jake in awe, not caring whether Hikaru's spirit might be manifesting through Jake or if this is what Jake truly wants. It was good to strive towards something like that and it made her think highly of him. Kiriya showed a rare smile, admiring Jake's bold words.

"It's nice to hear that from you, Jake. Let's continue. For the time being, we _will _be fighting the Akunin. As you fight, what will you rely on for assistance? Hmm, I'll call on you today, Hibari. Tell us about the Super-Secret Ninja Art."

"Y-yes!", replied the pinkette.

"Ah... well... To overcome one's limits, one must call upon the power of nature during battle. In order to use the Super-Secret Ninja art, one must have the corresponding scroll. We must keep these scrolls close to us at all times."

"I keep mine up my skirt.", Katsuragi replied nonchalantly, trying to get a reaction out of Jake, which didn't work.

**"I'm gonna have to try harder to get him to be the way I want him to."**, Katsuragi thought to herself.

"Mine's between my boobs.", said Asuka, before she realized she had said that in front of Jake. Jake didn't look in her direction, but his face was red.

**"Looks like I have an opportunity!"**, thought Katsuragi with an evil look on her face, noticing Jake also heard what Asuka said.

"Your boobs, huh?", Katsuragi repeated to Asuka. "How interesting! Hehe..."

Asuka figured out what was coming.

"Sister Katsu?"

"Let's see how well it's guarded!" Katsuragi shouted full of glee before pouncing on the helpless Asuka.

"KYAAAH!"

Asuka squealed as Katsuragi's fingers removed the former's shirt, exposing her bra and breasts, and began fondling them.

"Ah- Sister Katsu... stop it...! Not in front of Jake!"

"Just stay still, Asuka! I only need a second!", Katsuragi mewed.

Not taking her hands off of Asuka, Katsuragi looked towards Jake expecting him to be ogling at the sight before him, but she was surprised when she saw Jake was looking away with his hands over his eyes and face. She decided to harass him through his hearing since his ears were left uncovered.

"Keeheehee! Asuka, your breasts are so soft and firm! Perfect size and texture! Any man would give anything to feel boobies as nice as yours!"

"Stop it, Katsuragi!" Jake shouted while grabbing Katsuragi's wrists and removing her hands from Asuka's breasts. As Asuka recovered and buttoned her shirt again, Katsuragi pouted, but smiled and shook Jake's hands off of her wrists, crawled on his lap, and pulled his face into her ample cleavage. Asuka and the other girls were horrified that Katsuragi would do such a thing to Jake, while Jake's muffled voice pleaded for Katsuragi to let him out of the soft prison.

"What? No way! Don't tell me you are not enjoying this?!"

"Not in the slightest! Let me out!"

Asuka started to pull Jake away from the giddy blonde.

"Leave him alone! He was only trying to help!", yelled Asuka.

But Katsuragi wouldn't let go just yet. In her head, Katsuragi thought out a plan of waiting for the brunette girl to pull on him hard enough that she'll let go with Jake getting a face full of Asuka's boobs. When Asuka pulled rather hard, Katsuragi let go. But Katsuragi forgot to take Asuka and Jake's differences in height into account, because instead of him getting a unintentional boobie hug from Asuka like she expected, Asuka pulled hard enough that she and Jake's heads knocked into each other, and both fell back and winced in pain.

"Katsuragi, that is enough!", Ikaruga scolded her fellow Senior. "Jake, as Class Representative, I'm sorry you had to experience this on your first day, but I must thank you for doing the right thing and not taking advantage of the situation."

Kiriya finally cleared his throat.

"As I said earlier today, today was going to be a short day, so class is dismissed. Tomorrow, we'll be going to the mountains so Jake can discover his Ninpo Nature and Animal Summon. Jake, if you will kindly follow me, I will show you to your room and bathing facility."

"It was nice meeting most of you today.", Jake sheepishly smiled, then hurried out the classroom door with Kiriya leading him. After the two males had left, everyone turned to Asuka.

"Looks like you have some explaining to do.", Katsuragi said.

"I also would like to know how Jake arrived here.", Ikaruga concurred.

"Alright.", sighed Asuka. "Since you guys are my best friends, I'll tell you how Jake became a shinobi."

Asuka proceeded to tell them about the legend of Hikaru and Yami and how Jake is the former's reincarnation. She explained how she found him severely injured and bleeding to death on the ground after Yami returned and tried to finish him off, but fled when Jake's Light Powers Activated, and how she and Kiriya took him to the hospital. Naturally, the rest were horrified that a supposedly dead Evil Shinobi tried to kill Jake and almost succeeded, but were relieved when she told them he had healed automatically after he was taken to the hospital. He then stayed at her house for a couple of days while his stuff was moved into the (no longer empty) boy's dormitory. The girls decided to head to their dorm to freshen up and discuss what they were going to do for dinner.

"Maybe we should ask Jake where he wants to go for dinner?", Hibari suggested.

"Yeah, but are we paying for our own food or is he gonna pay for all of us? After all, it'd be a gentlemanly thing for him to do.", Katsuragi wondered.

"Honestly, after all of the problems you caused today, I think you should be the one who pays for the food, Katsuragi.", retorted Yagyu.

"Everyone except Katsuragi laughed at Yagyu's comment, whose lips very briefly curled into a smile, then returned to their normally stoic position.

"Why don't we go ask him what he wants to do for dinner?", Asuka said.

"That would probably be the best thing to do.", agreed Ikaruga.

The girls then proceeded to head to the boy's dorm and knocked on the door.

"Jake? It's us! Are you in there?", Asuka called. Nobody answered.

"I'm gonna go see if he's in there.", Katsuragi declared while widely opening the door and walking in, hoping to get an eyeful of him changing clothes.

"Sister Katsu, don't go in without his permission!", Asuka said nervously.

"Dammit, it's completely empty!", Katsuragi whined. The girls sighed in relief that she hadn't caught Jake in a compromising situation.

"Katsuragi, come out of there!", Asuka begged, hoping Jake wouldn't see them lurking.

"Nuh-uh! Why don't _you come in_? Hey, is that pornagraphy I see?", Katsuragi snickered.

At this, every girl dashed into Jake's room to see what sick fetishes he had. Yagyu covered the impressionable Hibari's eyes so she wouldn't see anything she deemed unsuitable for her.

"Alright, where is it, Katsuragi?", Asuka demanded, a slightly angry look in her eyes.

"Oh, I lied about him having porn. I just said that so you would all finally come inside his room.", Katsuragi said with a pseudo-innocent smile.

The girls realized that the buxom Blonde had baited them so that she wouldn't be the only one to get in trouble for sneaking in Jake's room. The girls were about to leave, but were enticed by the interior and began looking around the room, noticing he had a lot of possessions. He had a shelf that had various toys and figures on the top row, and various books, magazines, comics, manga volumes, music CDs, and video games neatly arranged on the lower ones. There was also a large leather couch in front of a semi-large plasma tv with special glasses on top of a case with various video game consoles hooked up to it, the noteworthy ones being a Playstation 3, a Wii U with a gamepad in front of the tv, two Gamecubes, an original Xbox, something that looked like a purple Super Famicom that they haven't seen before, a Nintendo 64 shaped like the Pikachu character from the Pokemon series, and a capture device hooked up to all of his home consoles. There were also a pink DS Lite, a silver Gameboy Advance SP, a black Playstation Portable with red buttons, a white Playstation Vita, and a red 3ds XL with various Smash Bros. characters on it. Hibari was ecstatic about his game collection and was determined to play games with him often in the future and show him her video games. She turned and saw that Jake had various Plushies on his neatly made bed, and went over to go see them. She thought they were adorable and was now itching to show him her Plushies, wondering again if he liked sweets as much as she did.

Meanwhile, while Ikaruga &amp; Katsuragi were perusing Jake's various books and comics, Asuka noticed he had an artists' studio with what appeared to be rough drafts of a manga she assumed he created. She also noticed that one side of the room had a laptop, video camera, voice recording equipment, an animation tablet, and a green screen. That side of the room had walls covered with anime and video game posters, while the other side of the room where his bed and shelves were had his own artwork hanging on the wall alongside photos of what she assumed to be his family back in America, postcards from relatives, and some pictures of Jake as an infant and young child. She noticed how different he looked in the pictures compared to what he looked like now, as he didn't have the afro he currently has. Yagyu was looking at the candy red electric guitar hanging on the wall while hooked up to an amp on the floor, alongside various music sheets and set lists.

"So he plays music as well. What does this guy _not _do?, Yagyu wondered.

"Aha! I found it!", Katsuragi shouted, holding a book with a pretty girl on the cover for all to see. The rest of the girls were shocked that Jake had such a thing in his possession. As Katsuragi opened it up and everyone else expected the worst, Katsuragi groaned in disappointment.

"There's no pictures! It's nothing but words that I can't read!"

Everyone sighed in relief. Ikaruga took a closer look at the book since she knew a little bit of English.

"Upon further inspection, this is a romance novel.", she stated.

"Wow, I'd never think he'd be into the romantic stuff...", Hibari said in awe.

Right then and there, all of the girl's stomachs dropped to their feet when they heard Kiriya and Jake talking in the hallway, heading their way.

"Crap!", slurred Katsuragi. "Everyone hide!"

As everyone scrambled to find a hiding spot, Katsuragi hid in the bathroom, Ikaruga in the closet, and Yagyu up on the ceiling. Asuka and Hibari, in the confusion, however, ran into each other and fell on their bottoms, wincing in pain.

As Kiriya heard a thud and the pained groans of his two clumsiest students, he sighed in disappointment.

"Asuka! Hibari! I know you're in there! Come on out. The door slid open to Asuka looking down pale as a ghost while Hibari was starting to tear up a little, lips trembling.

"The rest of you come out as well!", Kiriya demanded, knowing Ikaruga, Katsuragi, and Yagyu were in there as well even though he couldn't see them. Katsuragi came out of the bathroom, Ikaruga emerged from the closet, and Yagyu dropped down from the ceiling, where they joined Asuka and Hibari. Most of them had guilty looks on their faces. Katsuragi had a unashamed and proud look on her face, while Yagyu wore her normal, expressionless face.

"You five...", Kiriya scolded. "I can't leave you alone for thirty minutes without you sneaking into a new student's room and causing mischief! What do you have to add, Jake?"

Jake was standing next to Kiriya, now changed into his street clothes- a pair of brown cargo shorts, a Naruto T-Shirt, and a Spider-Man hoodie that looked as if it could zip up completely to form a mask. Jake just stood there, looking at the five girls, not speaking to them at all. After a long silence, Hibari tearfully apologized to Jake.

"We're really sorry we went in your room without asking!"

"I'm not.", Katsuragi retorted. Ikaruga pinched her fellow Senior quite hard. "Ow! What the hell was that for?"

Jake just stood there looking at them, then smiled.

"Hahahahahahaha!", Jake suddenly burst out laughing. "If you wanted to see my room so badly, all you needed to do was ask! I'd be more than happy to show you all everything!"

Jake had a huge grin on his face and was chuckling. Hibari immediately dashed to Jake and hugged him, which took the latter by surprise.

"Hibari is happy Big Brother Jake isn't mad at her or Hibari's sisters.", she said, nuzzling her face into his hoodie.

"Big Brother, huh?", Jake chuckled.

Asuka then walked over to join Hibari in hugging their new family member, followed by Ikaruga and even Yagyu. Katsuragi stayed where she was.

"Hey. Get over here and join, Blondie.", Jake said, grinning towards Katsuragi.

" 'Kay, Curls!", Katsuragi replied in response to Jake to giving her a nickname. She then joined in the hug. After holding together for about a minute, everyone's stomach growled at once.

"I think it's time to go eat.", Jake stated.

_**The Cherry Blossom **_**Sushi Bar**

**5:27 PM**

Jake had suggested they go to the sushi bar he sometimes works at for dinner, so that everyone could get their favorite foods. When they arrived, the manager greeted Jake and Jake told him about how he moved out of his apartment and is living in the school now **(he made sure not to tell him anything else)**.

"So when's the next time you'll have time to work again?", asked the manager named Hiro.

"Well, I'm busy tomorrow on a field trip, but Sunday, I'll be able to work pretty much from 11 to 6, and I can work Monday afternoon from 4 to 6:30. After that, I'm not sure. I'll get back to you on that, but me and my classmates came here to have dinner.", Jake replied.

"Ah, yes! Tonight's a slow night, which is odd considering it's Friday, but the seats by the bar are empty. You can sit there if it's alright with all of you?"

"You girls wanna sit by the bar?", Jake asked.

Everyone nodded their heads and sat down on the six stools by the sushi bar. From the left end seat sat Yagyu, Hibari, Ikaruga, Jake, Asuka, and finally Katsuragi on the right end seat of the bar. Jake ordered Shrimp Tempura, Teriyaki Chicken, and two bowls of rice, with Mr. Pibb as a drink, Asuka ordered the Futomaki rolls with a Sprite, Ikaruga got Curry with green tea, Katsuragi requested two bowls of Chicken Ramen with Fanta, Hibari asked for Teriyaki Chicken as well, and a Ramune Soft Drink, and Yagyu got Surume with plain ice water.

As everyone was eating their respective foods, Asuka got a look from Katsuragi, and the former proceeded to ask Jake a question.

"So, Jake...", Asuka addressed while timidly playing with her index fingers. Jake turned towards Asuka to give her his attention.

"Yes, Asuka?", he asked while lifting a piece of tempura to his mouth.

"Um... What type of girl do you like?"

Jake got caught off guard at this question and bit his finger alongside the piece of tempura he was holding.

**"OW! FUCK!"**

Jake had reverted back to English and cursed as his bit finger.

"I'm sorry, Jake! I didn't mean to distract you!", Asuka immediately apologized and checked his finger. There was a cut on where his finger was bit and it was bleeding before it rapidly began to heal and the skin completely reformed after a few seconds.

"Ugh. Sorry about that. Anyways, why do you want to know my type?"

Asuka tried to look innocent. "I was just wondering, ya know?"

"That wasn't directed at you, Asuka...", Jake said while looking at Katsuragi, who wore a sultry grin towards him.

"But...", Jake continued, "I'll humor you, anyways. What do you want to know?"

"Ooh! Jake!", Katsuragi interrupted. "Would you like a girl to have sweet, big b-"

"Eyes?", Jake countered. "Yes. Eyes are probably my favorite thing about a girl."

Hibari blushed at this, while Yagyu blushed as well, but was also contemplating killing Jake if he tried anything with Hibari.

"Boring!", Katsuragi yawned. "What about a nice a-"

"Smile? Yes. Smiles are also a must.", Jake replied.

"Jake! Stop interrupting me! Do you like large breasts or not?", Katsuragi girls waited eagerly for his response. After a few seconds, Jake closed his eyes and sighed.

"Alright. I'm going to be totally honest. I'm don't look for girls with large breasts or nice asses. I look for girls who can stimulate me intellectually and emotionally. If they have big boobs, then they're just there, and that's it. If a girl wasn't well endowed, I wouldn't think less of her for it. You girls most likely didn't want breasts like you have but couldn't control it because it's just genetics. People might judge you based on that, and I think that'd be unfair. People would judge me based on my height. They were often afraid of me because I towered over them. Because of that, I never judged someone based on outward appearance and looked for people's true selves. The reason why I'm telling you this is because I don't think highly of you because of your appearances and assets. I think highly of you because of the kindness and acceptance you've shown towards me, and for the first time in the two plus months I've lived in Japan, I've finally felt like it wasn't a mistake coming here and I feel I belong here. And I thank all of you for that and look forward to the memories I'll be making with you."

Everyone was in awe at Jake divulging personal feelings towards people he's only known for two days at most, seven hours at least. They noticed he was crying but had a huge smile on his face. At this, all of the girls looked at each other and knew they were all thinking the same thing: they had found the perfect potential husband. Even Yagyu was blushing and tearful in her one eye. They would all have to fight for his affection, but they decided they would worry about that later and once again hugged Jake as a group.

"Thank you for telling us that, Jake.", Ikaruga said proudly. "You've made us feel much more secure of ourselves and we're glad that we finally made you feel welcome in Japan."

Hiro was listening to the whole story, and after wiping a tear began clapping. Everyone else, even the other customers, soon joined him in clapping for Jake. After they were finished eating, Jake paid everyone's food bill and left a considerable tip for Hiro, being able to do so now that he has extra money from no longer having to pay rent. He thanked him for the outstanding service and told him he would see him again on Sunday, while the girls bowed and thanked Hiro for the food.

When they left from the restaurant, Jake said he was going to go to bed so he'd be ready to learn his Ninpo nature and discover his animal summon. After the girls bid him goodnight, he changed into his pajamas and turned out the lights, he drifted to sleep knowing his real training will start in the morning.

**So yeah, this chapter was much longer than the first one and I think it turned out well. When i write these, I'm doing it off of my iPhone using Google Docs, proofreading it, fixing spelling, grammar, and continuity errors, trying my best to avoid run-on sentences, and then copy and paste it onto the uploader. I noticed that the first chapter had uploading issues where parts that are in bold and italics are not in said fonts and are to the side when they need to be centered. I don't have a computer, so when I'm able to access one, I'll update it as well as this chapter to fix the upload errors. Also, I would like to share that I'm have ideas for another fanfic series that is pokemon related. It is currently in the creative process stage since the idea was come up with much more recently than when I had come up with the idea for my SK story nearly 9 months ago. What I do have planned for it though is that it will focus on the storyline in pokemon black 2 &amp; white 2. It will center around 6 main characters: an OC, Sabrina (who will be paired with the OC), The Male &amp; Female Player Characters Nate &amp; Rosa, who will be twin siblings, the player's rival Hugh, and the OC's starter pokemon, who happens to be a talking Greninja. Again, it's still in the creative process, so it won't be out for a while, but what I told you above is definitely going to be in the story. As for this chapter, I've been dropping hints about which Hanzo girl Jake will eventually be with, but for those of you who potentially figured out who it might be, or who you think it's going to be, don't leave a review or comment saying who you think or know it is, because you could potentially be wrong and also because it will be discussed much further 2-4 chapters from this one. So please hold your tongues. Since I've been writing for this over the past few days, I will be taking a weekend off to catch up on youtube videos before I even start to write the third chapter, but don't worry. I'll still be updating often for the foreseeable future. If you want, you can follow this story or leave a review, but as like last time, you don't have to if you do not wish to do so. Have a good day, and see you soon!**


	3. Chapter 3

**UPDATE- 3-28-15: fixed spelling/grammar issues, fixed original upload issues, altered song sequence, added additional dialogue.**

**Original Publication Date: 11-18-14**

**Author's Note: I decided since people actually like this story and that I need a break from watching The Completionist, plus I finally figured out what Jake's weapons were going to be, I decided to start writing again. Interesting note, when I'm writing this, I listen to music pretty much the whole time. They usually have names or lyric similarities to themes or planned themes for this fanfic. So far, the most listened to songs are "School Spirit", by Kanye West, "Digital Love", by Daft Punk, "Freeze", by T-Pain, "Escape", by Rupert Holmes, "Around the World", also by Daft Punk, "Through the Wire", by Kanye West Again, "La Vie En Rose", by Louis Armstrong, and "Viva Namida", by Yasuyuki Okamura (gotta love that Space Dandy music). I'd be interested to know what you guys listen to when you do whatever it is you do, but in the meantime, let's get this chapter underway. Last time we left off, Jake started his first day in class, temporarily became traumatized by Katsuragi, ate dinner with his classmates, and revealed personal history and advice to the girls. Now that you're caught up, let's begin!**

**Chapter 3**

**Caught in a Web**

**Hanzo Academy Girls' Dorm**

**9:22 AM**

It was a bright and sunny morning. Asuka had just woken up to the sun in her eyes and had gotten out of bed, where she was greeted by Ikaruga.

"Good morning, Asuka.", the black-haired beauty said as she basked in the sunlight coming through the window. "How did you sleep?"

"I slept well! Thank you, Senpai!", replied the sprightly brunette. "Have the others woken up yet", she asked.

Asuka and Ikaruga both turned their heads to see the other girls still sleeping. Katsuragi was asleep on her back with her arms sprawled to the sides while wearing a short-sleeved sleep shirt and pajama panties, all the while drooling a little bit. Hibari was laying on top of a giant plush animal much bigger than herself while wearing a zip-up bunny hoodie pajama top and sleep panties, while Yagyu slept with her usually pigtailed hair untied, showing how long it truly was, while wearing a long-sleeved pajama shirt and matching bottoms with cartoon squid on them.

"I think it would be best to let them sleep a little while longer. They look quite content, don't you think?", Ikaruga giggled.

"Then let's get breakfast and shower afterwards so we'll be ready when it's time to leave on our field trip.", Asuka suggested as she walked out of the room while Ikaruga followed. When they walked in the hallway, they noticed that there was music coming from the kitchen alongside the sound of singing and the smell of food cooking.

"Wow, it smells so good! I wonder who's cooking?", Asuka asked while smiling from the scent of the food's aroma.

"It's definitely not Master Kiriya, seeing as we're the only ones who usually cook breakfast.", Ikaruga stated.

"Let's go see who's cooking, then?", declared the younger of the two.

As they peeked around the corner, they saw Jake dressed in different clothing than the previous night standing by a stove frying something in a pan and singing, all the while wearing an apron.

_"Last night, I had a dream about you. In this dream, I'm dancing right beside you. And it looked like everyone was having fun. The kind of feeling I've waited so long for. Don't stop. Come a little closer. As we jam, the rhythm gets stronger. There's nothing wrong with just a little bit of fun. We were dancing all night long. The time is right to put my arms around you. You're feeling right. You wrap your arms around, too. But, suddenly, I feel the shining sun. Before I knew it, this dream was all gone."_

Jake felt he was no longer alone and turned around to notice that two of his classmates had been watching him sing.

"Please don't tell me you heard me singing.", he said, suddenly looking displeased.

"Yes, we heard you singing, and it was amazing!", squealed Asuka. "I had a feeling you sang since there was an electric guitar and amp set up in your room yesterday."

"Oh yeah.", Jake grinned. "I forgot you all saw my room yesterday. Speaking of music, do any of you five play an instrument?"

"Ikaruga's the only one that plays an instrument that I know of.", replied Asuka.

"Yes. I was taught how to play the erhu at a young age.", Ikaruga reiterated.

"Oh, that's cool!", Jake responded in enthusiasm. "I've been wanting to learn how to play that, but it haven't had time to learn since I had to focus on guitar. But maybe you could teach me sometime?"

Ikaruga blushed at the thought of having her tutor a one-on-one music lesson with Jake.

"I would be glad to teach you when you have time.", Ikaruga smiled.

"Cool.", he replied. "As you've probably noticed, I'm making breakfast for everyone and it's almost ready. Can you go wake the others please?", he asked.

"Sure, Jake. I'll go get them!", Asuka ensured and promptly left.

"I'll go with her so Katsuragi doesn't try to give her an early-morning groping.", Ikaruga replied.

"Have _fun _with that.", said Jake sarcastically, but in a good-natured manner. As Ikaruga left, Jake set up breakfast at the tables, then proceeded to pull out six mugs from the cabinet and started to make hot chocolate. By the time Asuka and Ikaruga returned with the other three alongside them, Jake was just finishing making the sixth hot chocolate intended for him, while the other five were set up at individual spots on the kitchen table. They were surprised at what Jake had made for breakfast. Sitting in front of them were six plates that had six large hash browns shaped like chibi cartoon versions of the six students' faces and hair, with their facial features accurately drawn with ketchup. They were astonished at how Jake was able to apply his artistic ability to what would have otherwise been a semi-normal breakfast, and admired their likenesses that they were seeing in the food, as well as the one Jake made for himself that looked like him. Next to each plate was a mug of hot chocolate that had whipped cream sprayed on top, alongside drizzled chocolate syrup and caramel, and topped off with a small _fun-size _Kit-Kat bar sticking out of the whipped cream of each one. All of the girls' mouths were salivating at the sight before them at this point.

"How long did it take you to make all of this?", Hibari asked in amazement.

"Well, I woke up about an hour and a half ago, took a shower, changed into the clothes I'm wearing now, and did hygienic stuff like deodorant and brushing my teeth, as well as getting my hair into its normal 'fro.", Jake answered. "Altogether, all of that took about fifty minutes to do. For the forty minutes from that point onward, I've been preparing the breakfast you're all seeing now."

"Wow. It all looks so delicious. Where did you learn to cook like that?, Asuka wondered.

"Well, when you live in an apartment by yourself, you need a job to pay bills and buy food, and you'll realize instant-ramen isn't going to cut it.", Jake replied honestly.

"Instant-ramen for every meal would be paradise for me!", Katsuragi declared.

"Wouldn't you rather have fresh ramen from a noodle bar instead?", Hibari asked her blonde Senpai.

"Good point, Hibari.", Kat noted.

"Actually, I'm quite the picky eater, so I only cook food that I'm willing to eat, but I learned a decent amount of cooking from my younger sister, who is arguably more mature, but no doubt a much better cook than I am.", Jake admitted while proudly wearing a childish grin.

"Regardless, I haven't eaten since last night and can't wait to, so let's do so!", Asuka said. She, alongside the other girls and Jake sat down at the table, before turning to Jake to thank him.

"Itadakimasu!", everyone said to Jake at once. They then bit into their hash browns and instantly hummed with delight at how wonderful it tasted.

"Wow! Jake's hash browns are so yummy! **(Don't take that out of context)**", exclaimed Hibari. Everyone nodded in agreement while Jake smiled at her compliment.

"Yeah! These are awesome!", Katsuragi agreed.

"They are much more than satisfactory.", Ikaruga added while sipping her hot chocolate.

"Jake, I'm surprised that Hiro hasn't asked you to become a chef!", Asuka said.

"This hot chocolate is better than the ones Starbucks makes, for sure.", Yagyu noted.

"Yeah! Jake puts candy bars in our hot chocolate! It's so tasty!", Hibari stated.

"Yes. As long as you have me around, you'll have all the hot chocolate and coffee you want without having to deal with the wannabe hipster writers!", Jake joked. Everyone laughed at his coffee shop generalization, while Jake grinned knowing that it was at least partially true. After everyone had finished their hash browns and hot chocolate, the girls thanked Jake again for breakfast, then headed back to their dormitory to take their showers. After they had gotten dressed and prepared everyone's lunches, the girls arrived in the classroom where Master Kiriya and Jake were waiting for them.

"Good morning, class.", Kiriya greeted the girls. "Today, we will be heading into the mountains to train where we'll conduct the paper test to discover Jake's Ninpo Nature, as well as discover his animal summon."

"I wonder what his animal will be?", wondered Asuka.

"Well, we won't find out until we get to our destination, now will we?", Kiriya said.

"Then what are we waiting for? Let's head out!", Jake declared, leading the way. "Which way do we head, anyway?", Jake asked sheepishly after walking halfway down the hallway realizing he had no idea on which direction the training grounds were.

"Follow me, then...", groaned Kiriya.

**Reserved Hanzo Shinobi Training Grounds**

**10:38 AM**

After everyone left the classroom, they followed Kiriya past the school grounds and hiked up a nearby mountain. After about a half-hour of hiking, they reached their destination, a clearing with various boulders scattered about as well as a nearby river.

"Alright, Jake,", Kiriya spoke to get his sole male student's attention. "I am going to conduct the paper test to find out what your Ninpo nature is.", Kiriya then pulled out a blank post-it note. "You will lay your hand out flat and hold this paper. If it wrinkles and becomes slightly dirty, it means your element is Earth. If it burns up, your element is fire. If it gets cut clean in half, it's wind. If it becomes wet, it's water. And if it crumples into a ball, your element will be lightning. These are just the basic five natures, but there are more than just the ones I described. Are you ready?"

"Yup!", replied Jake.

"Good. Then hold out your hand"

As Kiriya placed the post-it note on Jake's hand, Jake stared at his hand intently, while the girls circled around him to watch as well. At first, nothing happened. Suddenly, the paper began condensing before it was completely damp and dripping.

"It's all wet! That means Jake has an affinity for Water Ninpo!", Asuka exclaimed in surprise and excitement.

"So Hikaru used water based ninjutsu?", Jake asked Kiriya.

"Actually, Jake, Hikaru could only control light and nothing else.", Kiriya corrected him. "But, as his reincarnation, you can learn light based ninjutsu just as he once used, but water is _your _natural element, so you would use Water Ninpo regardless of whether you were Hikaru's vessel or not."

"Uh-huh.", Jake said as he stretched his arms and yawned. As he did so, he failed to see water begin to rise from the nearby river and form a small sphere, with only Hibari noticing what Jake has done.

"How are you doing that, Jeiku-Kun?!", exclaimed Hibari, looking towards the floating orb of water.

"How am I doing what?", Jake asked, confused. He, along with everyone else, looked towards where the clover-pupiled girl had been looking and was shocked to see a large orb of water floating in the air before it immediately fell back into the river.

"Quick, Jake! Try doing it again!", Asuka yelled frantically.

"I don't know how I did it, though!", he slightly panicked with the pressure of recreating what Hibari had seen. Then he remembered that he stretched his arms out when he yawned, which was supposedly the same time the floating water appeared. Instinctually, he took a reinforced stance and raised his right arm in front of him, palm facing forward and fingers spread apart, and created a mental image of water rising out of the river to form a sphere. As he focused, water began to rise out and form exactly as he had imagined it to. He then raised his left hand up to shoulder level and pulled back. As he did so, the water snaked over towards his left palm and he began to carefully move his arms in coordinated directions as the water formed a stream circling around him and the others.

"Master Kiriya, is this a normal shinobi skill?", Jake asked while still focusing on maintaining control over the liquid. However, Kiriya was in an absolute state of shock, as was everyone else.

"No, Jake. No shinobi, or regular person, for that matter, in history has been able to levitate water like you're doing right now! This means you've invented Hydrokineticism!", Kiriya was ecstatic that his least experienced student had invented a new shinobi technique, regardless of whether it was intentional or not.

"This is so unfair! I wanna learn that too!", Katsuragi pouted.

"I don't know for sure, but I don't think it applies to just water. Why don't you try what I'm doing with something else?", Jake suggested.

"Jake, what exactly did you do to make the water float again?", Asuka asked.

"Um, I just made a mental image of the water floating in my mind and focused on that while moving my arms.", he replied as he directed the water back into the river.

"Okay, thanks!", she said as she focused on one of the nearby boulders, and started moving her arms trying to get the large rock to levitate, but became frustrated when it wouldn't budge, eventually to the point of angrily flailing her arms about every which way in hopes of moving it.

"It probably won't work if your arms are flying in random directions. Here, let me help you.", Jake smiled as he stepped behind Asuka and got her in the correct stance, then proceeded to gently grab her wrists so he could guide her arm movements.

"Are you ready?", he asked.

"Yes.", she shyly answered, her face feeling slightly hot because he was, in a way, holding her hands, though she knew it wasn't because of _that_. But still, a girl could dream.

"Alright, create an image in your mind of the boulder slowly rising into the air, and match the speed with your arms.", he replied as she closed her eyes and focused.

"I see it.", she stated.

"That's good. Now slowly lift your arms up as if you are trying to lift the boulder.", he continued.

As Jake guided her, she slowly lifted her arms higher in the air, but felt extreme weight in her palms, despite her hands being empty, and it made her hands ache slightly. Regardless, she continued lifting her arms, at which Jake let go and told her to open her eyes. As she did so, she was speechless at the boulder that was floating in front of her.

"I-I did it! I'm doing it! I'm lifting the boulder!", she squealed proudly. "Jake, are you seeing this?!"

Jake was smiling at her as she lowered her arms, and in the process, the boulder as well.

Jake congratulated her and began clapping. Ikaruga, Katsuragi, Hibari, Yagyu, and Kiriya followed suit as well.

"Yay! I can't wait for Jeiku-Nii-San to teach me to control lightning!", Hibari cheered. "You did a really good job, too, Big Sis Asuka!"

"Yeah, you'd better teach me to control wind later, or I'll just have to _punish _you!", Katsuragi demanded of Jake while licking her lips at the last part and watching him seductively.

"I would also like to learn to harness fire as well.", Ikaruga added.

"I would be most satisfied to collaborate and learn water ninjutsu alongside you, Jake.", Yagyu agreed.

"Well done, Jake!", Kiriya applauded. "I bet Master Hanzo will be most pleased with your discovery, as well as yours and Asuka's progress. Now we are going to find out what your animal summon shall be."

"What is the criteria for the animal summon?", Jake asked.

"It can be a real or imaginary animal, but it must be an animal you are compatible with. Hibari, would you demonstrate to show him how it's done?", Kiriya asked his youngest student.

"Y-yes, Sensei!", the Pinkette replied. "But I'm not very good with this kind of stuff..."

"I'm sure you'll do fine, Hibari!", Jake smiled at her. After having her confidence reaffirmed by Jake, she caught his infectious smile and nodded with determination. She closed her eyes so she could focus. She was having a little difficulty, so she shut her eyes harder, and it looked like she was straining herself in the process. When Jake was about to ask her if she was alright, there was a large puff of pink smoke, and when it cleared, Hibari was riding atop a large pink rabbit. She laughed in glee as it bounded high in the air to the mountain on the other side of the river and jumped through the trees, while everyone sweat-dropped when they saw the forest was being partially destroyed in the wake of the bunny's frolicking. When Hibari came back and dismounted her steed, Kiriya thanked her for correctly summoning her spirit animal, but told her to be more aware of her surroundings next time.

"I thought the bunny was cute, Hibari.", Jake smiled at the first year, while she smiled back at him, stating that she wanted to see what his animal would be.

"Well, you're all gonna find out! And so will I, because I still don't know what it is or will be." he declared, earning a groan from Kiriya. After checking to make sure he had enough room, Jake sat down in a meditative position and inhaled deeply, then slowly exhaled. As he exhaled, there was a puff of smoke and he was gone.

"Where did he go?", Asuka asked.

Suddenly, there was another puff of smoke, though this one was slightly larger than the one Hibari's summon made, and when it cleared, Jake was casually sitting atop a large black spider with six long, elongated legs and a large red &amp; blue marking abdomen. All of the girls, sans Hibari, screamed at the sight before them. Jake jumped down and started petting the arachnid's head. Rather than having a gross, scary face, this spider had a very unusual, feminine, almost human-like face, though it still looked like a spider, albeit with two almond-shaped lavender eyes with womanly lashes, a small, feminine mouth, and short, black hair that covered the bridge of where her nose would have been and ended in upward facing curls that rested along the sides of her head. She made a low, content humming noise as Jake ran his fingers across her hair. Hibari watched in awe as the large spider nuzzled her cheek against Jake's torso.

"What do you girls think?", he asked.

With their hands covering their eyes, none of the other girls were looking at the large spider, having not taken time to notice it was cartoonish and girly. However, Hibari had a huge smile on her face with sparkles in her eyes.

"Jeiku-kun, she's so pretty! And she looks really nice, too! Can I pet her?", Hibari begged him.

"Sure. She's extremely friendly, so it should be safe.", Jake said with confidence. Hibari walked over and began petting it. The spider began purring, and licked Hibari's hand affectionately.

"Stop! That tickles!", Hibari giggled.

"Yeah. When I disappeared, I wound up in a white void filled with nothingness except a large egg. When I placed my hand on the egg, it began to hatch and this spider emerged from it. After she looked at me for a second, she called me "Daddy". It's kinda weird, but also adorable so I didn't question it, and I ended up teleporting back here. I decided I'd name her Scarlet.", Jake said, slightly embarrassed. At this, the spider suddenly said one word to Hibari.

"Mama!"

"Huh?"

"Mama!", Scarlet repeated.

"She called me Mama, Jake!", Hibari exclaimed.

"Really? Well, she is still a baby, and you're the first girl that showed nurturing towards her, so she must think we're her parents. I don't think she says anything else other than what she called us, though.", Jake noted.

"Yay! I'm a mommy!", Hibari cheered.

At this, the four remaining girls decided to finally look and saw Jake and Hibari playing with the spider. Asuka immediately walked over and marveled at how cute Scarlet was.

"Mama!", Scarlet said again, this time to Asuka instead of Hibari. Scarlet then crawled over to Ikaruga, then Yagyu, and finally, Katsuragi, calling each of them _Mama _as well.

"Very good, Jake. This was... interesting, to say the least. You may recall Scarlet now.", Kiriya said. At this, Scarlet glowed brightly and shrunk from being the size of a large pickup truck to the size of a small Lego brick, and crawled inside Jake's afro to take a nap.

"As you all now know,", Kiriya stated, "Asuka uses her Twin Kodachi Swords, Earth Ninpo, and draws her power from the Toad, Ikaruga with her family heirloom sword "Hien", Fire Ninpo, and the power of Phoenixes, Katsuragi with her Metal Greaves, Wind Ninpo, and Dragon summon, Yagyu with an oil paper umbrella, Water Ninjutsu, and squid powers, Hibari with her unique fighting style, Lightning Ninjutsu, and rabbit summon, and finally, there's you, Jake, with your Spider Summon, Hydrokinesis, and Water Ninpo Nature. But what will you use for your weapons?"

"You already said one of them.", Jake replied. "I just need to get a canteen so that I'll be able to use my Hydrokinesis when there isn't any other water source available. And I could also use _this _ability to my advantage."

Jake then proceeded to shoot a spiderweb from his right wrist at one boulder, then shot another web towards another boulder with his left one, and pulled each toward him, then jumped out of the way as the two boulders collided and erupted into many pieces of rock, then shot another web at a nearby tree mid-air and rocketed towards it at high speeds, drilling straight through it with a well timed kick. Emerging on the other side, he landed on another boulder and leapt from it as he shot several spiderwebs at the still falling rock fragments from earlier and pulled them towards him as he landed on the ground in front of everyone else as one by one, the rock pieces stacked on top of each other behind him. When they finished, Jake took a bow.

"My other weapon is my spiderwebs in tandem with my environment and physical prowess!", he stated proudly, while the girls were impressed at his capability and control with his new powers.

"Very impressive, Jake.", Kiriya complimented. "The unorthodox shinobi is one with the greatest advantage: unpredictability. Work hard to make yourself even more versatile with your gifts. This goes for the rest of you as well. Can I count on you six to do so?"

"Yes, Sensei!", everyone said in unison.

"Good.", their teacher said, satisfied with their answer. "We'll eat the lunch Asuka made and head back to school afterwards, where you'll have the rest of the day off to go shopping for food supplies."

"Alright, let's eat!", Katsuragi said. "What's for lunch, Asuka?"

"Futomaki Rolls Grandpa helped make for us!", Asuka replied as she pulled out 20 or so rolls and handed 2 to each of her friends as well as Master Kiriya. As everyone bit into one of their Futomaki rolls, Jake noted that it tasted alright, but the ones Asuka gave him a few days prior tasted much better, adding that the ones she made had different ingredients than the ones they were eating now.

"I'm glad you liked mine, but I learned to make this from my Grandpa, so maybe you shouldn't let him hear what you said."

"It doesn't change the fact that yours tasted better.", Jake countered. "The newer generations will always surpass what the older generations accomplished. And it's not just your cooking versus your grandpa's. This theory applies to pretty much any subject since it goes hand in hand with the progress of human evolution. And though it won't be for a very long time, one of the future generations is going to surpass the current one that we are a part of. It's the natural order of life and it will never stop. That's just how it is."

Asuka looked at Jake in wonder. **"I didn't think he was the philosophical type, but then again, I somehow keep forgetting that he's smart. His statement is the same reason as to why I became a ninja: to surpass my mother and grandparents as a Shinobi.", **she thought to herself.

"There's no need to be a brainiac just because you like a pretty girl's cooking more than an old man's, Jeiku-Kun!", Katsuragi replied snarkily.

"Coming from the mouth of a young, pretty girl with the mind of a perverted old man, I don't think you should be chastising Jake for his opinion, Sister Katsu.", Ikaruga retorted.

"Oh, then why don't I just be a _perverted young girl _instead?", Katsuragi said as she tackled Jake to the ground and pulled his shirt up to show the girls his slim, but slightly muscular body.

"Hey, Asuka. Remember when I saved you from Katsuragi yesterday?", Jake asked as the blonde began rubbing her breasts into his face while squeezing his biceps. "You think you're willing to return the favor and GET HER OFF OF ME?", Jake said the last part in a slight yell as Katsuragi began pulling at his zipper.

"Katsuragi, stop!", Asuka said as she tried to pull her cohort away from her male classmate, but ultimately couldn't move her as she was distracted by Jake's exposed muscles. Suddenly, Katsuragi got splashed by a shot of water and got off of Jake in surprise, allowing him to writhe free and pull his shirt back on.

"Jake, what the hell? Why did you do that?", Katsuragi yelled, preparing to begin fighting him.

"I'm not the one who did that!", he said in defense.

"Then who did it? No one else controls water but you!"

"You're wrong.", said another voice.

Everyone else looked to see Yagyu was sporting water tendrils prepared to go at her Senpai. "Leave Jake alone. He hasn't done anything to deserve this."

"Everyone stop fighting!", Hibari yelled. She had tears in her eyes and had an angry look on her face. "We're supposed to be a family! We shouldn't fight each other for no reason! We've only known Jeiku-Kun for one day, and everyone's turned against each other already! We won't be able to be shinobi or work together if we don't get along, so everyone should apologize to each other!"

By this point, Hibari had broken down to tears and looked scared. Everyone felt themselves die a little bit at seeing the pinkette so unhappy because of their petty argument. Yagyu and Jake were the first to apologize to Hibari and went over to comfort her, while Scarlet, having woken up, began cuddling with her _Mama _to comfort her as well.

"I'm sorry I harassed you, Jake.", Katsuragi said to Jake.

"Apology accepted.", Jake grinned. "Asuka, I'm sorry I said I didn't like your grandpa's cooking as much as yours."

Asuka smiled. "Ditto, and I'm sorry I got distracted when you needed my help."

"Ditto-ditto.", he replied.

"Senpai, I'm sorry I splashed you with water...", Yagyu apologized to Katsuragi while looking down.

"I accept. But next time, we're gonna go all out in training!", the blonde grinned while playfully cracking her knuckles.

"As for me, I'm truly sorry for egging Katsu-née on with my comment. I hope you will all forgive me.", Ikaruga said apologetically.

"We do.", the other students said in unison. Asuka, Katsuragi, and Ikaruga then joined Yagyu, Jake, and Scarlet in hugging Hibari together. After Hibari felt better, she got up and asked Jake to bend down. Jake did so not knowing what to expect, then Hibari kissed him on the cheek, along with Yagyu, Asuka, Katsuragi, and Ikaruga getting kisses from her as well. While Asuka, Katsuragi, and Ikaruga slightly blushed at Hibari's affectionate display, Yagyu had completely passed out from her excessive nosebleed. Meanwhile, Jake was laying on the ground blushing heavily, holding his cheeks, and giggling like a madman.

"Alright.", Kiriya said, having returned from taking a piss in the nearby forest, not aware that no one had noticed he was gone. "I think it's about time we head back to school where you six will have the rest of the afternoon to yourselves. Everyone pack up and let's go."

After Yagyu had woken up and Asuka snapped Jake out of his stupor, they headed back to the classroom where their teacher bid them farewell until Monday. After Kiriya had left, everyone organized a shopping list and wrote down all of stops they would be making at the shopping district of town. While waiting, Katsuragi, Hibari, and Yagyu got their coin purses so that they could buy stuff for themselves. After Ikaruga, Asuka, and Jake had finished planning their route and grocery list, they went to their rooms and got their coin purses and wallet, respectively, and led the way to the shopping district, while the rest followed.

**Kagurazaka Shopping Mall**

**5:03 PM**

Everyone arrived at the mall expecting it to be bustling with shoppers, but were surprised to find out that all of the shops were closed, despite it not even being close to closing time. As they were walking, they encountered an old woman hurrying by.

"Excuse me, Ma'am...", Ikaruga politely addressed the elder. "Do you know why all the shops are closed?"

"There's hoodlums running about the the mall, threatening the store owners and potential customers! You young'uns should leave! It isn't safe!", the old woman replied, fearing for their safety as well as her own. As the woman left, Katsuragi looked around trying to find them. "Where are they?", she wondered.

"I dunno. Let's ask those nice looking people over there... just kidding. Those are the mallrats the lady was mentioning.", Jake joked despite having a completely serious and stoic face as he was saying that.

"What should we do?", Hibari asked, looking a little nervous.

"We'll ask them to leave.", Ikaruga stated.

"And what if they don't?", Asuka wondered.

"Then we'll just have to make them leave!", Katsuragi grinned while cracking her knuckles and stretching her legs.

"Although, I'm gonna regret having to resort to fighting.", Jake lamented.

"Well, as Class Representative, I must take action!", the raven-haired sword-wielder declared.

"I agree.", Concurred the Blonde Kicker.

"For the Sanctity of the Shopping District!", chanted Asuka, Ikaruga, and Jake.

"For the yummy food!", Katsuragi, Yagyu, and Hibari declared. The group walked over to where the hoodlums were and confronted them.

"Delinquents!", Ikaruga yelled at the troublemakers to get their attention. "Vacate the shopping area at once!"

"You're inconveniencing the shopkeepers!", Asuka elaborated.

"Yeah! And us, too!", Katsuragi added.

A large, rather horrid looking girl emerged from the Hoodlum group, who appeared to be the leader, judging from the other gang members slowly backing away in fear to make room for her.

"Ha! You think you can stop our fun?", the leader challenged. "You'll need more than over-inflated boobs to take us down! We'll make you beg for mer-", Just then, the leader was interrupted when a projectile was shot towards her. The projectile was a spider web that covered her mouth, preventing her from talking.

"Sorry. But the only over-inflated thing I see is your ego **(and definitely your figure)**. Anyone who insults any of my sisters will eat their words, kind of like how you're eating that spiderweb.", Jake remarked cockily. The gang leader became furious at the lone male for making her look like a fool in front of her subordinates, and she successfully tore off the web.

"You'll pay for that, Gaijin-Dog! Get them!", the leader barked.

"So be it!", Asuka declared. "Let's go!"

"Shinobi Tenshin!", the six Hanzo students recited in unison.

At this, the girls plus Jake activated their ninja turnovers, and were enveloped in a bright light as their school uniforms disappeared and were replaced by new ones, as well as having their weapons summoned. Asuka was now dressed in a short sleeved yellow turtleneck vest and a plaid green skirt, with black thigh-highs and brown shoes, and she was wielding her dual Kodachi, her red scarf and uniform shirt underneath her vest being the only clothing from her previous outfit that carried over. Katsuragi's appearance was mostly the same as her school uniform, except her partially unbuttoned shirt was now completely undone, with the underside of her breasts as well as her stomach now being visible alongside her normal cleavage. Her normally solid blue skirt now had a plaid pattern and wore her metal greaves with purple tassels and gold designs on her legs. Ikaruga wore a fancy-looking white Japanese suit with gold trimmings, black pantyhose, and white and gold boots, and had drawn her family heirloom sword. Yagyu now wore a brown winter jacket, red scarf and skirt, medium length black socks, and brown shoes as she brandished her oil paper umbrella. Hibari was now wearing a pink track suit top with the Hanzo crest on the left side of it's front over a navy blue school swimsuit, of which only the bottom part was visible, and white tennis shoes with pink laces and soles. Finally, Jake was now wearing a red short sleeve shirt that had a Pokeball and the word "Baller" written in a basketball-jersey-type font on it's front, brown cargo shorts with zippers on each pocket, and black street shoes with red laces and what appeared to be rocket boosters on the soles. He also wore fingerless black leather gloves and had a large canteen filled with water strapped to his waist.

The lesser gang members ran towards The Hanzo Six. Ikaruga's sword glowed with flames as she unleashed a barrage of slashes towards her opponents. Katsuragi began what appeared to be a street dance and she began spinning her legs at high speeds as a tornado formed around her, drawing in her foes and subsequently launching them back with it's sheer power. Hibari had been ensnared by one of the gang member's chain sickles and was about to be struck down, but was saved as Yagyu rescued her by subduing Hibari's captors. Jake shot a spiderweb at one of the hoodlums and reeled hard on the string as he slammed her into some of the other delinquents, and immobilized them by gluing their hands to the ground with webbing, ensnared the other ones the girls had already taken out in cocoons so they wouldn't flee, and proceeded to join Asuka, who was taking on the gang leader alone. Asuka swiped her sword upward at the leader, but the latter dodged it.

"Ha! You'll have to do better than that, boobs-for-brains!", the gang leader taunted. This victory wouldn't last long, as Jake immediately caught her off-guard with a jet of water to her jaw in an uppercut-like fashion. Seeing the opening Jake had made, Asuka then finished her off with a dual strike of her Kodachi swords leaving the head member unconscious. After Jake called the police to have the delinquents promptly arrested, everyone released their turnovers, returning back into their regular clothes. The hoodlum problem taken care of, the group began shopping for dinner as the stores started opening up again.

**Hanzo National Academy**

**Elite Class Kitchen**

**6:51 PM**

After they had gotten the supplies they needed, Asuka, Jake, and Ikaruga began preparing dinner. Jake had bought six whole potatoes, cut each into eight slices and fried them in a pot of vegetable oil over a stove, and had also made strawberry iced tea for everyone to drink, while Asuka made rice balls and various sushi rolls. Ikaruga made ramen noodles with chicken broth and red azuki bean curry, while Hibari, Yagyu, and Katsuragi prepared a dessert of fudge brownies and raw cookie dough, then proceeded to set up the table when they finished. Scarlet had been sleeping in Jake's room while they were gone shopping, and had woken up to have Jake find her dinner. Jake caught a couple of flies with his web and mixed it with cotton candy flavoring, then set the cotton candy spiderweb clump next to her as she happily began to eat. Jake then joined the girls at the table and began to eat alongside them, taking a couple of rice balls, one of the rolls Asuka prepared, and his share of potato wedges. As everyone was eating, they discussed their battle against the delinquents and bragged about their victories. Everyone congratulated each other on their performance, then congratulated Jake for his accomplishments in training many hours prior.

"So when do you think you can teach us how to harness our respective elements at will?", Ikaruga asked Jake.

"Well, I have work tomorrow, so it can't be then. I'll also have to research the properties of your elements and come up with effective uses for them, in addition to practicing my water control with Yagyu as a training partner as well as a student so I can teach her all of the same techniques I use. I'll have to take time out of my free time to do all of this, so it wouldn't be a daily thing. But I'm confident I'll be able to help you all after I learn some basic Light Ninjutsu with Grandpa Hanzo's help and practice guitar.", Jake replied. After everyone was finished with dinner and had dessert, Jake went to go put Scarlet to bed with the intention of turning in as well, but the girls asked him if they could pick out a movie from his collection and watch it with him in the living room.

"Uh, sure. But most of them were bought back in The States, so you'll have to watch them on the PS3 in my room since they won't work on the Blu-Ray Player in the living room.", Jake said. "Will you be okay with that?"

All of the girls blushed as the thought of them watching a movie with Jake together in his room sprang up in their minds.

"Y-yes, that'll be fine.", Asuka replied, with the others nodding in agreement. As they entered his room, they sat down on the couch inside while Jake got extra blankets out of the closet so they wouldn't be cold. He then went over to his shelf and looked through his movie collection. **"Most of them don't speak English, so I'll either need to find something in Japanese, or find a silent movie."**, he thought to himself. Jake then realized that all of his movies that had Japanese audio were anime. **They're probably not as geeky as I am, so silent movie it is."**, he mused. "Ah! Here we go!"

Jake pulled a movie off of his shelf and showed it to the girls, asking if they would be alright in watching it. The girls saw the cover had a cute little robot riding a spaceship with a feminine, egg-shaped robot next to it. The movie was called WALL-E. They all agreed, and Jake turned on his last-gen Playstation, inserted the movie, and pressed play. As they watched, Hibari rested her head on Jake's left shoulder and wrapped both arms around his arm on that side, while Asuka did the same with his right. Yagyu leaned on Hibari, and Katsuragi on Yagyu, while Ikaruga did so with Asuka. Jake didn't complain, as he was cold and was glad the girls were able to make themselves comfortable in his room. During the movie, they laughed, they cried, and they smiled at the robot's antics and happy ending. Even Katsuragi was well behaved and didn't harass any of them despite having many opportunities to do so. After the movie finished, Hibari had fallen asleep and Yagyu carried her to bed and bid Jake goodnight, while the girls got up and said goodnight as well. Asuka, however, did not leave, and was looking timidly at Jake.

"What's up, Asuka? Is there anything you need?", Jake asked curiously.

"Oh! Um, nothing, really.", she stammered. "I was just wondering if you wanted to have a sleepover tonight? Like we did in my room at my parent's house?"

"Um, sure. But it's just you sleeping in my room, Asuka. Nothing more than that.", Jake replied.

"Oh! Um, of course! Yeah, I totally understand!", Asuka said.

As Jake scooted to the right edge of his bed to make sure he and Asuka weren't too close, he let her get under the covers so she was warm, while he slept on top of the covers with the blankets from earlier to avoid awkward physical contact with her.

"Goodnight, Asuka.", Jake yawned as he drifted off to dreamland **(presumably to see his homie, Kirby)**.

"Goodnight, Jeiku-kun.", Asuka said back. She waited for him to fall asleep completely, then got out of the regular covers and curled with Jake in the extra blankets. Remembering early in the movie where WALL-E held the hand of the unconscious EVE, she grasped Jake's hand with her own, making sure not to wake him up. Asuka then sighed, wondering when Jake would realize her feelings for him, and shed a single tear before falling asleep next to him with her arms around him.

**So yeah, this chapter was hella long, and I'm not very good at describing action in a scene, but I hope I did alright. Jake's new abilities were heavily influenced by Spider-Man and Waterbending from Avatar: The Last Airbender and collectively, Legend of Korra, as well. I also introduced his Animal Summon/ Adoptive Daughter Scarlet. She isn't going to be a constant character throughout this story, but she will appear from time to time as a recurring character. As for the end of the chapter, I felt that officially revealing that Asuka has a crush on Jake will add a new dynamic for the two, though he doesn't know that. Also, I'd like to thank those of you who decided to favorite, follow, review, and all that good shit. It makes my day to see that people enjoy this story. Also, at the time of this chapter's upload, it will have been nearly a week since I published the first chapter of this story. I will continue to work on this story, but the next chapter won't be out for a while as I will be busy celebrating my birthday as well as thanksgiving and shopping on Black Friday. If you enjoyed this story or chapter, you can favorite, follow, or review it, but you don't have to if you do not want to do so. Thanks for reading and I'll see you next time.**


	4. Chapter 4

**Update- 3-28-15: fixed spelling/grammar issues, original upload errors, etc.**

**Original Publication Date: 12-18-14**

**Chapter 4**

**Some Girls Can Be Quite Venomous**

**Jake's Room**

**Sunday Morning**

**9:14 AM**

Jake had woken up the next morning due to the sun shining in his sensitive eyes and noticed that Asuka was still asleep but no longer under the covers where he last saw her, but laying huddled behind him with her arms wrapped around his stomach and her hand around his left wrist. Jake turned a bright shade of red, but became at ease once he noticed he had left the bedroom window open the whole night.

**"Asuka must just gotten cold from me leaving the window open by accident. That's probably why she's in the blankets with me."**, Jake thought to himself. He blushed again when Asuka's hand gripped his left wrist a little harder while she softly snored in a cute manner. **"As much as I'm enjoying this, I have work in a couple of hours, so I gotta get ready."**

Jake gently pried the sleeping girl's arms off of him, making sure not to wake her up in the process, got some new clothes out of his closet and drawers, then walked into the bathroom, closing the door behind him and opened the second door inside that led to the boy's showers. He stripped down his clothes before stepping in the large, spacious shower area, which had a wall on one end that didn't completely fill the top part, while the other side of the wall was the girls shower, technically making both gender facilities the same room. As he turned on the water, his normally poofy hair became wet and drooped over his eyes. As he pushed his hair out of the way and got it damp enough, he proceeded to shampoo his hair with somewhat sweet, but somewhat manly chocolate-scented shampoo. Once he lathered it enough, he washed it out, closing his eyes so that it wouldn't sting. After nearly finishing, he opened his eyes to notice a certain blonde peering through the high-up window gap, looking lower than his face with an unashamed smile.

"KATSURAGI! WHAT THE HELL?! DON'T LOOK!", Jake yelled loudly, hoping Ikaruga was on the other side so she could reprimand her cohort, all the while trying to cover his private area from her view, but unable to completely hide it from her view.

"I'm _sorry_, Jeiku-Kun.", Katsuragi said unconvincingly. "But maybe I can repay you... by showing my nude form to you, since I got to see you naked?", she suggested flirtatiously. Jake proceeded to waterbend from the still running showerhead and blasted her in the face with it, knocking her from her perch where she was watching, followed by a thud and the noise of a pained shriek.

"AIIIEEE!"

"KATSURAGI!", Jake called after her, but there was no response.

"Kat?", he called out again in concern.

Jake then heard what sounded like Katsuragi painfully moaning and crying. Feeling guilty about what he did and fearing he may have hurt her, he crawled up to the window gap to make sure she was okay. As soon as he looked, he instantly regretted it.

"Gotcha, you peeping tom!", she yelled in victory appearing from below the window gap, and proceeded to pull his face into her wet, uncovered breasts. Jake's whole body turned a deep shade of red at this, and he began to suffocate due to lack of air **(alongside slight hyperventilation from the face-to-breast contact between him and the blonde)**. Right before the rest of his body could react to what was happening to him, Ikaruga, having walked into the girls' shower unnoticed, pulled the blonde's hair quite hard, causing her to free Jake

"That wasn't funny, Blondie!", Jake yelled while blushing heavily as he quickly turned off the shower, dried off and left. After he left, on the other side of the wall, Ikaruga glared intensely at Katsuragi.

"What's with that look?", the Katsuragi asked, trying to act innocent.

"You spied on our sole male classmate when he was completely naked, feigned serious injury when he rightfully blasted you with water, tricked him into forgetting the fact that you were nude and worrying him so he would look through the window out to make sure you weren't dead, only for you to try to label him as a pervert for looking, make him nearly suffocate, and attempt to sexually arouse him against his will! That's what I'm giving you this look for!", the ravenette screamed, positively outraged at Katsuragi.

"Oh, stop lecturing me!", retorted the blonde. "Besides I'd bet you would want to know how big _it _is!"

Ikaruga blushed maroon at her classmates words

"I'll tell you this much about it- just as we have perfect-sized busts, his ***** is a perfect-sized length, and that's just when it wasn't aroused at all, though I still haven't seen it in that form... _yet_.", Katsuragi grinned, knowing that Ikaruga was getting flustered at this information.

"I-I have to go now! Bye!", Ikaruga stammered as she hurried out of the shower and back into the girls dorm before she could hear anything else about Jake's assets.

"Hee-hee! Wait until I tell our Kouhai about what I saw!", she smiled evilly with her fingertips together in a Mr. Burns-like fashion.

**Jake's Room (again)**

**9:31 AM**

"Dammit, Kat! Why do you have to do shit like that?", Jake asked himself as he walked out of his bathroom. He then noticed that Asuka still hadn't woken up during the time he was gone. Jake's mood quickly changed from irritation to bashfulness upon seeing her in his bed, remarking on how adorable the sight of a sleeping Asuka was, finding amusement in the drool trailing from her mouth as she dreamt. But it wouldn't be good for her to sleep all day, so he decided to wake her up by gently poking her cheek.

"Wake up, _Aurora."_, he said quietly. Asuka woke up to Jake prodding her cheek with his finger. Asuka blushed and bolted upright in surprise when she realized Jake had woken up before her and no doubt have discovered that she was wrapped in the blankets with him the whole night.

"Jake, I'm so sorry! I just got cold last night and you looked cold as well, so I slept next to you so we could generate body heat for each other and stay warm throughout the night! That's all!", Asuka quickly said in one breath while blushing with embarrassment.

"It's alright.", Jake responded while blushing lightly, remembering when he woke up. "I left the window open by accident, so that's probably why you got cold. I'm gonna go eat breakfast real quick and head to work afterwards. Do you want me to pour a bowl of cereal for you?"

Asuka was touched that he was willing to prepare breakfast for her while she showered, even if it was nowhere near as elaborate as the previous day's morning meal.

"Yes, please. But I don't know what cereal we have. Do you know what we've got?", she asked.

"Well, Hibari, Ikaruga, and Kat all have their own cereals and Yagyu just eats squid every morning, but I bought different cereals intended for myself as well as anyone that doesn't have any of their own cereal. I've got Captain Crunch, Trix, Frosted Mini Wheats, Chocobees, and Reese's Puffs.", Jake told her.

"Um... I'll have Mini Wheats, please.", the brunette requested.

Jake left to make cereal for himself and Asuka, while the latter headed to the girls' shower to become clean. She didn't have problems there, unlike Jake did minutes earlier. After she got dressed and came into the kitchen, she noticed a bowl filled with the cereal she asked for alongside a spoon and a milk carton, and everyone except Jake was eating in the kitchen.

"Where's Jake?", Asuka asked.

"He poured a bowl of cereal for you, ate his own breakfast, told us he would hang out later, and left for work.", Katsuragi responded while munching on a piece of bacon.

"Well, since he's busy, and because today's a free day, we'll all be doing our own thing.", Ikaruga said. "I'll be catching up on my school studies and Class Rep duties, so I won't be able to do anything with you, Asuka. Sorry."

"Me and Yagyu are gonna go to the candy store and buy ice cream and sweets!", Hibari added, while Yagyu silently nodded in confirmation.

"So I'm assuming you're free to spend time, Katsu-née?", Asuka asked, not wanting to spend her free day by herself, even if it meant having to spend it with Katsuragi, of all people.

"Actually, I just planned on watching TV all day, so I'll be _busy_.", the blonde responded. "Surprisingly, I'm not even in the mood to fondle you, so you should be grateful that today's a lazy day for me."

"Oh, well I guess I'll go shopping by myself today, then.", Asuka said weirded out that Katsuragi was apparently too lazy to harass her, even though she was relieved that she wouldn't be tortured, even if it's only for one day. After she ate her cereal, Asuka grabbed her purse out of the girls' dorm, and headed to the shopping district to buy a present for Jake.

**Asakusa Shopping District**

**3:57 PM**

Asuka had arrived at the shopping district and noticed that there were a lot of people there as well. She stopped at her father's sushi shop to visit him and have a free lunch. After she was done, she perused some of the clothing shops to look for clothes that she would buy on a later date. Once she had finished, she wakes outside to find a store that sells things she assumed Jake would like. As she strided her way through the crowd, she stretched her arms out as she enjoyed the sunny weather and absorbed the sunlight which had been nice throughout the month.

"Ahhh! I love this weather! It's been so nice lately!" she exclaimed to herself. Suddenly, out of nowhere, Asuka accidentally bumped into another girl with a camping backpack and red hair walking by.

"Whoa!"

"Oops! I'm so sorry!", the girl apologized. "I didn't mean to bump into you..."

"No worries. I'm okay.", Asuka reassured her. "Are you all right?"

"Oh yeah... _I'm fine_.", the other girl said the last part rather quietly. "See ya!"

**"That was strange..."**, Asuka thought to herself as the red-haired girl hurried away.

She then noticed that the purse around her arm was gone. **"That girl!"**

"Hey, you!", Asuka shouted as she began to give chase. "Stop! Give me back my purse!"

Asuka weaved in and out of the way of other shoppers as she tried to catch up to the purse thief, but began to fatigue after a few minutes of pursuing the redhead, and she eventually had to stop so she could breathe.

"No... my cherished... 500 yen!"

As the thieving girl continued running, she remarked to herself on how effortless it was for her to take Asuka's purse.

"Ha! That bimbo can't even keep up! This was way too easy!"

But she wasn't paying attention as a girl with tanned skin, a long black ponytail, and a black sailor uniform with a red tie kicked Asuka's purse out of the thief's hands, into the air, and caught it in her own.

"What the...?! Hey! Give that back, Bronzie! I stole that fair and square!"

The tan girl just looked at the thief intensely with narrowed and disgusted eyes. The redhead could see the ferocity in this girl's eyes and was she was becoming intimidated by it.

"Get lost!", the bronze-skinned girl ordered the thief, who hurried away so she wouldn't have to fight the imposing tanned-hottie. As Asuka caught up to the new girl, her breasts bouncing as she ran every step, the girl tossed the purse for Asuka to catch.

"Here's your wallet back, Ms. Melon Tits.", she said.

"Ah... thank you...!", Asuka replied as she caught her purse. "Hey! Melon Tits?! I have a name, you know! It's Asuka!", the brunette replied in a flustered manner. "Anyway, let me pay you back for getting my purse!"

"No thanks...", the girl replied. "But I'm sure we'll see each other again. Later!"

As the girl walked away, Asuka watched her admiringly.

"The way she moved... I wonder if she studies martial arts?", Asuka wondered. "Okay! I guess I need more training! Oh yeah, I forgot about Jake's gift!", she reminded herself.

Asuka walked into an art gallery and looked at the paintings for sale. They all had a unique style to it, which had anime-esque humans and anthropomorphic animals interacting in a bizarre world with colorful designs and eyeballs everywhere.

"This art is so weird, but interesting. I wonder who painted it?", Asuka wondered.

"Greetings.", A formal-looking art curator said to Asuka. "Welcome to the Takashi Murakami Art Gallery. Is there anything I can help you with, young lady?"

"Um, do you have any paintings for sale?", Asuka asked.

"Yes.", the curator replied. "We have a gift shop with posters, merchandise, recreations of famous works as well as actual paintings for sale. What price range were you hoping to have?"

"Um... I only have 500 yen. Will I be able to buy anything with that?", she asked.

"I'm sorry, but I regret to inform you that we don't have anything worth 500 yen or lower for sale.", he replied.

"Oh... I'm sorry.", Asuka apologized. "Thank you, anyways.", Asuka bowed in respect as she headed for the exit. The curator didn't know why, but he had a feeling in his mind that there was something special about this girl.

"Wait a minute!", he called out to Asuka, who turned around in confusion to face him. "I think we might have something in the back for less than that price.", he told her. "I can go get it, come back and show it to you if you'd like?"

"Um... I guess... yeah?", Asuka replied, slightly confused.

"Alright. Please wait here a moment.", the man said as he went to the back room. As Asuka waited, she wondered what the curator was bringing for her to see.

"Ah! Here it is!", the man said after arriving from the back room. He held his hand out to reveal a small cartoonish porcelain frog with cute blue eyes and a happy smile. "This work is called _Gamachibi_. It was recently made earlier this week, but we never put it out front because it's the only one Takashi-San has made."

"Oh, so is this for sale?", Asuka asked.

"Yes.", he replied. Asuka was about to hand him her 500 yen coin when he stopped her.

"I'll give it to you for free, on the condition that you share it with someone you care for deeply, and that you make sure they cherish their friendship with you always.", the man told her, much to Asuka's surprise and subsequent joy.

"Yes, I will! I promise! Thank you so much!", Asuka bowed. "But won't Takashi be mad that you're giving away one of his one of a kind artworks for free?"

"No, my dear. I'm sure _I'll _be fine with you taking it.", the man said with a wry smile.

"Oh, okay. Thank you."

Asuka was about to leave when she realized that this man was the famous artist whose work was being displayed throughout the gallery.

"Eeeehhhh?! You're Takashi? I thought you were just his curator?"

"Yes.", Takashi replied. "All of the work you see here was painted, drawn, or sculpted by myself, but I'm also in charge of financial, promotional, distributional, and legal rights for myself and my art. I have some of the most desirable modern artworks in the world, but I choose to live the life of an artist and not a celebrity, as you can see from my gallery as well as my workshop and unseen living space upstairs. I do this because I'm passionate about invoking emotions and thought from my art. That's why I gave Gamachibi to you for free. Because I know that the person you share this with will have the spirit of a fellow artist and draw inspiration from it, and they will cherish not only your gift, but also new knowledge and deep respect for you for the rest of their life.", Takashi lectured to Asuka.

"Wow! You must be really insightful! Thank you!", Asuka responded.

"Oh, you are most certainly welcome. It's getting late, and it's also about time to close shop for today, so you should probably get going.", Takashi informed.

"Okay. Thank you!", Asuka bowed to the man before leaving.

**Timeskip**

**The following Saturday (Nearly a Week Later)**

**Local Hot Springs**

**6:25 PM**

School was resumed the day after Asuka had run into the mysterious tan girl and received the art piece from Takashi's gallery. Jake attended work Monday after school, helped the girls harness their elemental kinetic abilities throughout the week, learnt how to produce water clones not only from surrounding water, but also out of thin air, as well as air bubbles for breathing underwater and partial merging and shape shifting abilities. He also was given an old scroll by Master Hanzo that taught basic light ninjutsu, though until now, only Hikaru was able to utilize such techniques. From the scroll he had learnt limited teleportation, partial invisibility, and basic light-conjuring abilities, such as flashlight vision, which he had trouble turning off at first. As for him teaching the girls elemental kinesis, Yagyu was the most successful, due to she and him having the same Ninpo Nature. Ikaruga followed, then Katsuragi, Asuka, and finally with Hibari with the least amount of progress, though her determination and willingness to not give up made her, alongside Asuka for the same reasons, his favorite classmate to train with. After seeing how hard the Shinobi students were working as well as their resulting fatigue, Asuka's grandfather surprised everyone when he revealed he was rewarding them with a class trip to the hot springs to ease their minds and weariness. Upon learning that there would be age-specific areas, but no gender specific areas, Jake asked Asuka to make sure she and the others wore bathing suits at the springs alongside him, since he wanted to go, but also didn't want to see them completely naked or them see him likewise, mentioning what Katsuragi did in the showers a few days earlier. Asuka agreed to this, and mentioned that they all had planned to do this anyway, sans Katsuragi, who wanted everyone, including herself, to be completely nude so that she could participate in what she dubbed the "Chō sekushīna tesaguri-sai ekusutorabaganza", or, "Super-Sexy Grope Festival Extravaganza". Everyone else objected to this and decided they were all to wear swimsuits, while Katsuragi childishly pouted, but reluctantly agreed, seeing as she was outnumbered five-to-one. After everyone had packed, Kiriya drove them to the hot springs, and as soon as everyone settled in, bid them adieu, putting Ikaruga in charge. After the six students had ordered room service dinner, which ended up looking like a royal feast when it was brought to them, and ate, they took turns changing into their swimsuits in the bathroom, and once they all finished, they headed to their reserved spring, which had the appearance of a natural hot spring but was deep and spacious enough to also function as a pool. They were told earlier at the front desk that their spring was also reserved by another small group that had not arrived yet and would be sharing with them.

"Wow, this place looks nice. I'm looking forward to resting in the water.", Jake declared. The girls nodded in agreement.

"Have you ever been here before?", Asuka asked him.

"Nope. Never been to a hot spring in my entire life. We don't have many places like this back in America, and the ones we do have are reserved only for the wealthy and/or famous."

"Well, what are we waiting for, then?", Katsuragi asked to nobody in particular and proceeded to climb in the water, the others following suit.

"Mmm... It feels so nice...", Ikaruga stated.

"Yeah...", Jake concurred while lying on his back in the warm and slightly bubbling water, floating across it gently.

"What are you doing?", Asuka asked him.

"Um, this is how I relax in water. I'll stop if you want."

Jake's legs then reconnected to the floor and stood upright, his normally curly hair now damp and partially covering his eyes, requiring him to adjust his temporary bangs so he could see, while Asuka, Yagyu, and Hibari, seeing his hair wet for the first time, giggled at him having to move it out of his face compared to how it normally is.

"I should probably undo my hair as well.", Asuka said as she untied the ribbon that kept her hair in a ponytail and revealed its true length. Jake couldn't help but blush at how pretty she was with her hair flowing naturally.

"Your hair looks nice like that, Asuka. I like it.", Jake shyly complimented her.

"Thank you. I was thinking of actually changing my normal hairstyle to this, but wasn't sure if I should until you said you liked it.", she thanked him. "So I guess I'll wear it like this more often in my free time, but I'll still keep it tied during school because it helps to have my hair not get in my face during training or potential battle."

"You're right. Being able to fight without distractions is most important. But change is still a good thing once in a while.", Ikaruga chimed in. When Jake looked past Asuka's shoulder, he sweatdropped as he noticed that Hibari had taken her bows out of her hair and Yagyu took her shuriken out of her pigtails so that they'd become undone, and if it wasn't floating on top of the water, it'd appear that she has the longest hair, which could quite possibly reach below her waist. Both of the first-year girls were looking at Jake intently, as if they were waiting to be complimented as well.

"You two look nice as well without your hair restraints.", he told them. Just then, they all heard two girls arguing with each other outside the area entrance as they, alongside three other girls, walked into the same pool area as the Hanzo students. One of them was a small loli girl with an eyepatch over her left eye, blueish-black hair with kemonomimi cat ears of the same shade, and a noticeably smaller bust size compared to the other girls in her group, or just every girl there except for her, who all had large breasts. The loli girl was wearing a one-piece school swimsuit that looked rather modest compared to everyone else's skimpy bikinis and Jake's swim trunks, and was glaring at everyone else around her, but was primarily focused on glaring at Jake solely for him being the lone male, as well as one of the girls next to her who appeared to be giving the small girl a hard time. This girl had dark blonde/light brown hair ending in curls and wore a pink bow and matching solid pink swimsuit that had a mesh covering with a hole in front, revealing her cleavage. Next to them were a green haired girl with yellow eyes and slit pupils, small earrings, a reptile-print swimsuit, and tattoos on the left side of body and around her neck, another girl with blonde hime-style hair that was similar to Ikaruga's with a snake-shaped hairpin and a frilly teal bikini. Jake couldn't help blushing at this girl slightly, enjoying her **(seemingly) **warm smile. And the final member of this group was a girl with black hair tied into a long ponytail, a black two piece swimsuit, and tanned skin with tan lines on the areas of her body that were covered during the process. This girl spoke to Asuka.

"Fancy meeting you here, Jugs...", she spoke to Asuka. Asuka was in shock. The girl who brought her purse back from the thief the other day was here at the hotsprings with what she assumed were her classmates.

"You! My name is Asuka! I told you this before!", Asuka said to her, irritated that the girl was making fun of her breasts once again.

"Is she a friend of yours, Asuka?", Jake asked curiously.

"Yeah. On Sunday, some punk took her purse and I got it back for her.", the girl spoke. "But I never introduced myself to you. I'm Homura, and these are my classmates: Mirai, Haruka, Hikage, and Yomi. We would have come in earlier, but we found out that there was male company, so we changed into our swimsuits."

"And I appreciate you for doing so.", Jake replied.

"Alright then, Homura.", Asuka spoke. "Even though you don't call me by it, you should know my name by now,, but your friends don't know it or the rest of our names, so I'll introduce us: I'm Asuka, and these are my classmates Ikaruga, Katsuragi, Yagyu, Hibari, and Jake."

The lone male noticed that the girl named Haruka was eyeing Hibari with an odd-looking smile across her lips. Turning to Yagyu, who also picked up on this, they looked at each other and nodded as Jake swam away from where he was originally next to Asuka over to Hibari, his brotherly instincts kicking in to make sure the impressionable pinkette didn't get into any trouble.

"Ooh, are you looking after your girlfriend, Boy?", Haruka asked Jake pseudo-innocently.

"Um, she's my sister, but yes. I'm making sure she doesn't cause you any trouble and vice versa.", Jake replied with a stern look on his face.

"Really? You two don't look related at all.", Haruka said dryly, pointing out the obvious difference in skin color between him and everyone else.

"None of us are blood related to each other, but we're still like a happy family and we look out for each other and help one another.", Hibari happily said.

**"Family?"**, Ikaruga thought to herself, shedding a tear in the process.

"Is something wrong, Ikaruga-san?", Asuka asked the ravenette.

"N-No. It's nothing.", she quickly replied, putting on a normal face again.

"Hmm, well still... it's odd for there to only be one boy amongst so many well-developed girls.", Haruka responded. "Seems a little suspicious to me."

"Um, I hate to be rude, but all of us have only just met. You're in no position to pass judgement on other people you don't know, so I'd quit acting like I'm better than everyone else if I were you.", Jake said this rather coldly, which was odd for the Hanzo girls to witness, given how he's normally polite and friendly and always has something nice to say.

"Hmph. There's no reason to be rude. I was just curious of your circumstances. I'll enjoy playing with you sometime in the future, but we came here to relax ourselves, not become agitated.", the pink-bowed vixen said.

"I highly doubt we'd meet again after tonight.", Jake said as he got up from next to Hibari and laid on his back on top of the water again away from everyone else. Oddly enough, the girl named Hikage was doing the exact same thing. The only difference was that Jake didn't have a pair of boobs sticking out of the water like two islands in the middle of the ocean.

"We'll see about that...", Haruka quietly said to herself.

"I've never seen Jake act like that towards someone. It's kind of weird witnessing it.", Asuka whispered toward Ikaruga.

"That girl was being confrontational and was dealing personal blows to not only him, but to us as well. He was defending himself as well as us from what he perceived, and what I also perceived, as insulting our bonds with each other. In my opinion, he did the right thing because his intentions are good, though I agree, he could have worded it better.", the ravenette replied.

"HAHA! WHAT A SHOW WE HAVE GOING ON HERE!", an elderly male voice yelled from above.

Everyone looked up to see Asuka's grandfather standing on top of the wall surrounding the hot spring pool the Hanzo students and the other five girls were bathing in. He was drooling slightly with a grin on his mustachioed face.

"EEEK! GRANDPA! WHAT ARE YOU DOING HERE?!", Asuka squealed while covering her cleavage with her hands.

"Ah, just enjoying the sights you're all providing for me!", he said unashamedly.

"This is an age-specific area! Get out of here, you pervy old man!", Jake yelled as took some water and shot small water bullets towards where the old man was.

"Flying Squirrel Technique.", Hanzo said while making a hand sign. As the bullets shot at him, he nimbly dodged them by what appeared to be him soaring above the bullets and gaining short bursts of altitude, which allowed him to dodge every projectile.

"Oh, trying to take a shot at the old Headmaster, are you?", the old man remarked as he landed on the wall on the opposite side of where he was originally.

"Master Hanzo, this is against the bathing facility rules. Please leave immediately!", Ikaruga shouted.

"Ikaruga!", the other Hanzo students yelled. Ikaruga realized that she had revealed the name of the shinobi school they go to as well as the name of the school's founder in the presence of other people and clasped her hands over her mouth in shock.

"Old Man, does your wife know what you've been up to?", Jake asked with a sly smile. Hanzo's face turned white as a ghost, froze in the spot he was standing, and had a frightened look on his face. Asuka picked up on what Jake was asking and spoke to her grandfather.

"If you don't leave now, I'll tell Grandma Sayuri what you were doing just now.", Asuka threatened him.

"N-No! Anything b-b-but that!", Hanzo stammered.

"**Then leave.** Oh and thanks for paying for our trip here!", Jake said, turning from dead serious to appreciative.

"Oh, okay. Just don't tell my wife."

After Hanzo had left, Jake turned to Asuka.

"Please tell me we're still going to tell your grandmother about this...", he requested.

"Oh yeah. I'm going to be telling Mom, too.", she said with a sly grin.

"Oooohhoohoohoo! Damn, that's wicked! But I like it!", Jake laughed with a huge smile.

Both laughed until they stopped to look at the other non-Hanzo girls. They stared back and forth until Homura smiled and spoke up.

"Don't worry. We're also Shinobi, so we'll pretend we didn't hear anything.", Homura said. "But I must ask you, Jake? How were you able to do what you did with the water?"

"Hehe. It would be unwise to reveal the inner workings of one's ninjutsu repertoire, would it not, Homura?", Jake asked the tanned beauty.

"Hmm, I guess that's true. You're smarter than I initially thought.", she said.

"Well, it's getting boring, so I think I'll bid you ladies adieu.", Jake said. "Goodbye Asuka, Homura, Ikaruga, Yomi, Kat, Hikage, Yagyu, Mirai, and Hibari."

"Hey, aren't you forgetting someone?", Haruka spoke up while crossing her arms in the guise of being upset, but was actually doing so to make her cleavage more pronounced.

"Oh, how silly of me! How could I forget?", Jake said while mockingly slapping his forehead. "_Bye, Felicia."_

After Jake had left, the Hanzo girls said goodnight to Homura's group and left as well. Now by themselves, the remaining girls began talking amongst each other.

"I can't believe they ignored me this whole time!", Mirai shouted. "They're gonna pay for that!"

"Aw, Mirai. Don't be angry that boys aren't into small breasts. It's not your fault that you're flatter than paper.", Haruka said mockingly.

"SHADDUP! YOU HAVE THE BIGGEST BOOBS OUT OF ALL OF US OR THE OTHER GIRLS AND HE CLEARLY DOESN'T LIKE YOU AT ALL! I DON'T BLAME HIM BECAUSE I HATE YOU TOO!", Mirai screamed at the top of her lungs. While Haruka and Mirai continued to squabble, Homura, Yomi and Hikage discussed what they thought of the Hanzo Six.

"That girl named Asuka is supposedly The Great Hanzo's granddaughter. Do you think she will be a formidable opponent, Homura?", Yomi asked.

"She doesn't look tough at all. She looks almost as inexperienced as that Hibari girl. But Katsuragi, Ikaruga, and Yagyu look powerful. We'll have to be careful around them.", Homura replied.

"I don't care who my opponent is. I'll just deal with them and get it over with.", Hikage said blandly.

"That Hibari girl is cute.", Haruka said. "I'd love to make her one of my puppets."

"Next time I see them, I'll make them regret not having paid attention to me tonight!", Mirai declared.

"Oh! You said Ikaruga, Katsuragi, and Yagyu would be a handful. But what about Jake?", Yomi asked Homura.

"Jake will probably be more problematic than all of those girls combined.", Homura stated.

"Why is that?", Hikage asked.

"Because I think Jake is the reincarnated form of The Legendary Shinobi of Light, the opposite to Dogen, Hebijo's School Principal and biggest financial investor, who is the reincarnation of The Shinobi of Darkness.", Homura said rather bluntly. "He may bring about the end of Akunin ninja training if we are unsuccessful in our mission."

"So why don't we just kill him before he does that?", Haruka asked.

"Because it is not our destiny to kill him. That's Dogen's birthright.", Homura replied. "We will not be fighting Jake, we will be fighting those Hanzo girls for their Super-Secret Ninja Art Scroll instead, but if he decides to fight us or get in our way, then we'll subdue him, but leave him alive. We'll kill those girls if we have to, but that's it."

"I feel bad that Dogen has to kill him. I kinda _like _him.", Yomi stated with a small blush.

"Tomorrow, we'll inform Suzune-Sensei of our report, and next week, we'll initiate an assault on the Academy. We'll need their scroll in order to succeed in our plans.", Homura declared. "But I think we should get some rest before then."

"Right!", the rest said in unison.

**Hanzo Elite Class's Hotel Room**

**9:17 PM**

"Ha! You're not gonna get away!", Katsuragi yelled at Yagyu as the blonde beauty hurled a pillow towards her Kouhai.

"Hmph.", Yagyu easily dodged it and threw a pillow back at Katsuragi, who moved out of the way as it hit Asuka instead.

"Ooh, you're gonna get it now!", Katsuragi yelled.

In case you couldn't tell, most of the girls were in the hotel room having a pillow fight, with Katsuragi and Asuka on one team and Yagyu and Hibari on the other. Jake was outside getting a soda from the vending machine and Ikaruga was **trying **to read a book, but couldn't do so because of all of the shouting and pillow throwing. Katsuragi then hurled a pillow towards Hibari, who Yagyu protected by deflecting the projectile with her umbrella.

"No fair! You can't defend Pinky forever!", Katsuragi whined. Meanwhile, the pillow that Katsuragi had thrown and subsequently been deflected by Yagyu had ended up hitting Ikaruga in the face. Blinded, she removed the pillow from her face with both hands, and while successful at this, in the process, she had ended up losing her page in her book. She decided she had had enough at this point.

"Darn it, Katsuragi! Why did you have to start this pillow fight in the first place?! Some people are trying to do things besides being loud and messing around, like sleeping or reading!", Ikaruga yelled.

"Well, instead of yelling and being bitchy about it, you can join the pillow fight and have fun with us!", Katsuragi yelled back. Ikaruga picked up her pillow and threw it with superpowered force at breakneck speeds, and Katsuragi had to dive out of the way so she wouldn't get pummeled by it. As it zoomed past her, Jake had come back from outside while drinking a Mountain Dew. When he was about to take a sip of it, the pillow Ikaruga had thrown made impact with his face, and he dropped his soda as the force of the pillow lifted him off of the the ground slightly and violently slammed him into the wall. After the dust settled, Jake was laying on the ground with the pillow covering his face and not moving.

"Oh my god, Jake! Are you alright?!", Ikaruga screamed, running over to him to make sure he was alright. She removed the pillow to find that the right side of his face was heavily bruised and bleeding. She found out that he was unconscious, and he had a swollen eye and bleeding lips. She and Asuka proceeded to take him over to his bed and laid him there as the others helped clean his face of the blood. After about fifteen minutes of anxious waiting, Jake woke up groaning in pain.

"Jake! I'm so sorry! I got angry and I ended up seriously hurting you by accident! I didn't mean to harm you at all!", Ikaruga had broken down in tears over her guilt.

"...bwuatur...", Jake mumbled.

"What?"

"...bwuatur... burending muhfeen...", he mumbled again, pointing at the door.

"Ah, you need water! Yes, I'll go get some!", Ikaruga hurried to the vending machine outside and came back carrying one large water bottle and two small bottles of Mountain Dew. When she came back, Jake sat up and swung his legs over the side of the bed and motioned for the water. After Ikaruga handed it to him, he screwed the cap off and used Hydrokinesis to remove the water from the bottle, which he then brought to his wounds as the water began to glow in a golden light. Slowly, the water began to vanish, and his wounds did as well at the same rate. Once all of the water had disappeared, his face was completely healed with absolutely no previous signs of injury visible.

"How did you do that, Jake?", Ikaruga asked, amazed at the Ninjutsu Jake had performed, as was everyone else.

"Well, during training this week, I thought of the idea of using my water-manifesting abilities to heal injuries. I have never used it until just now and I combined my light ninjutsu with it to accelerate the healing process. Yagyu might be able to learn this as well, though it won't be as powerful or as fast as what I just used because she doesn't have Hikaru's power of light to speed up the healing. While it took mere seconds for me to heal my face injuries with this technique, it would take Yagyu or any other Water Ninpo user about half an hour to heal the same amount of damage and they'd have to be completely focused the whole time. Still, regardless, it's an amazing technique that I hope can be applied to the other elements."

"Wow! Jeiku-kun keeps coming up with all of these new ninjutsu to help people!", Hibari cheered.

"Ikaruga, I accept your apology. It was just an accident, but next time you throw a pillow, don't throw it hard enough that it can nearly kill someone.", Jake laughed as he embraced the ravenette's hug. Relieved that Jake was okay and wasn't mad at her, Ikaruga cried into his shoulder as he comforted her, with the other girls hugged their class president as well.

"Oh, thank you. All of you- you're the reason why I feel happy every day. I don't know what I'd do without any of you.", the ravenette smiled while wiping tears from her eyes.

"We love you, too, Big Sis.", Jake replied.

"Yeah! We'd never be mad at you!", Asuka said.

"Agreed!", Katsuragi concurred.

"Yup!", Hibari chimed.

"Mmm.", Yagyu nodded.

After everyone finished with their feel-goodness, Jake drank both of the sodas Ikaruga had bought earlier and went down to the front desk to ask for another pillow to replace Ikaruga's, which had dried blood on it. He then played his Vita for an hour an a half before succumbing to sugar crash and falling asleep. As everyone else was asleep, Yagyu wondered if they were in for hard times ahead of the six of them, before falling asleep herself.

**So yeah, it's been exactly a month since chapter three was uploaded. I celebrated my birthday where I turned 19 years old and bought a vita off of eBay so I could play Shinovi Versus, which is even better than Burst, in my opinion. For those of you who haven't taken the dive on PS Vita yet, I would recommend it because of it's now expansive games library and region-free hardware which means that vita game cartridges from any region can be played on any vita system. This chapter began being typed about two weeks ago and finished literally minutes before this is uploaded, but I hope it turned out alright. So yeah, Asuka, Jake, and the others met the Hebijo Girls, though they don't know these girls are Hebijo, yet. That will happen in the next chapter. Also got to give a shout-out to the current lovelies who have liked, followed, or reviewed this story- SSS-the-hedgehog-black, Unicorn 359, Zero-Nightmare, ThaviduZeroX, dad90, The Kitsune Saiyan, MrSpartan3398, a big shout out to Fear Ripper for being a fellow Senran Kagura Fanfic Writer (go check out his other works too, I'm sure he'll like it a lot ^_^ ), AnimeFanfic4Ever, Shadowlink223, Angel of light darkness, TYZO300, deus-rasengan2, and HerculesPoirot! Your support is extremely inspiring and appreciated! If you want to like, follow, or review, it's greatly appreciated (as I said above), but not required if you do not wish to do so. Thanks for reading and Happy Holidays!**


	5. Chapter 5

**UPDATE- 3-28-15: Fixed spelling/grammar errors, original upload issues**

**Original Publish Date: 1-19-15**

**Author's Note: I've finally reached a new milestone in my FanFic career: receiving my first flame review. So I'm gonna go ahead and give my two ****shits** **cents worth on the matter. Although the anonymous reviewer praised me for not following the usual tropes of stories with lots of girls and one boy, it questioned my storytelling skills and writing abilities and implied that I suck as a writer. But I'm not even mad about it. And this goes out to everyone reading this: if you think you can write a better fanfic than me, I strongly encourage you to use that drive and do so. It could be a Senran Kagura FanFic, a Fanfic for a different series, or a completely new and original story that isn't based off of a pre-existing property. Nothing would make me happier as an author than having my work inspire at least one person to do what I do, and I truly wish you the best of luck if you choose to do so. But it won't stop me from continuing to write this story, or any planned stories for the future. With that said, please be careful about what your opinion on something is, whether in the real world or on the internet. ESPECIALLY on the internet. And the following goes out to the flamer and any potential flamers: I personally have no problem with you not liking this story and expressing so in the reviews section, but remember to be aware that the people who actually like this story outnumber the people who don't, so be prepared to invoke the Lovelies' potential wrath. On a more lighthearted note, we have now reached 25+ story reviews (including the flame review), 12 story favorites, and 15 story followers, as well as all the Lovelies who favorited me and followed me in general. Shout out to the current lovelies DragonxNegima2, Junichiro Nakashima, GreyMan19, Skies-of-Total-Darkness, SS-the-hedgehog-black, Unicorn 359, messaging buddy Zero-Nightmare, ThaviduZeroX, dad90, The Kitsune Saiyan, MrSpartan3398, fellow Senran Kagura FanFic Writers GamerJay and Fear Ripper, AnimeFanfic4Ever, Shadowlink223, Angel of Light darkness, TYZO300, deus-rasengan2, HerculesPoirot, Trollolol LOL, Pax Guy, and last minute lovelie RiderKnight 001, as well as all of the guest reviewers (except the flamer). Last time we left off, the Hanzo Six met the Hebijo-Tachi for the first time. This chapter they're actually going to be fighting, plus there's a surprise afterwards. So here we go!**

**Chapter 5**

**Initiation**

**Hanzo Academy Training Grounds**

**7:02 AM**

After everyone had rested up at the hot springs on Saturday and met Homura and her friends, the next morning the Hanzo Shinobi Class was picked up by Kiriya and taken back to their dorms. Jake went to work while the girls did their own thing. It was now a bright Monday morning, and Katsuragi had woken up early for target practice with logs hanging from ropes on trees, all the while pondering her purpose in life.

**"I'm so bored."**, Katsuragi thought to herself.

"CRAK!"

One log was broken to splinters with a well placed kick.

**"Day in and day out, all I do is train."**

"KRA-THUNK!"

Another log broken to pieces.

**"I need a real challenge..."**

"SNAP!"

**"I want to fight someone who pushes me over the edge..."**

Many more logs on ropes fell from the treetops, completely encircling Katsuragi from all sides. Inhaling slowly, she brought her arms inwards, and subsequently thrust her arms out to her sides, palms facing outwards as a powerful wind destroyed the logs while also completely leveling the area around her, leaving the land completely flat.

"This is too boring.", she spoke aloud. Katsuragi suddenly heard light footsteps behind her.

"Choco?!", she yelled aloud, startled. In her mind, Katsuragi was seeing an image of a much younger version of herself playing with a small Shiba Inu dog, hoping to find the dog behind her. She turned around to see no one was there.

"Guess not..."

"..."

Katsuragi now saw her younger self holding Choco while a man with light brown hair and a woman with blonde hair just like her own stood next to her, smiling.

"Mom... Dad..."

Katsuragi started to tear up, but snapped out of it by slapping her cheeks.

"Pull yourself together, Katsu!", she told herself. "It's time for breakfast!"

**Hanzo Academy Elite Class Kitchen**

**7:39 AM**

Katsuragi walked into the kitchen to make herself some ramen, when she spotted Jake making his own breakfast.

"Mornin', Blondie!", Jake greeted her.

"Oh. Good morning...", she responded. Jake noticed that Katsuragi appeared slightly out of it, which he hadn't seen in her before.

"Is something wrong?", the male asked her. "You're not usually like this, and I'm starting to get concerned."

"Nah. It's nothing."

Jake was skeptical about her answer, but accepted it.

"Alright, but if you ever need someone to talk to, you can always come to me.", he said.

"Nah. I'm not girly like you, but thanks for worrying about me, though. How I fondle you as a token of my appreciation?", the blonde suggested.

"No thanks,", he said bluntly. As Katsuragi began making Instant-Ramen and Jake began eating his cereal, Asuka had walked into the kitchen dressed in her uniform and greeted her Senpai and male classmate.

"Good morning, Katsu-née! Good morning Jeiku-kun!", the brunette happily greeted the two.

"Good morning, Sis.", Jake replied as he pulled a Mountain Dew out of the kitchen fridge and took a swig from it.

"Should you be drinking Mountain Dew in the morning, Jake?", Asuka asked. "You already had two of them on Saturday night."

"Some people need caffeine to function in the morning. I'm one of those people.", the male stated matter-of-factly.

"Yeah, but most people drink coffee in the morning to perk up, not soda.", Asuka playfully retorted while sticking her tongue out at him.

"I cannot fathom how people even drink coffee. It's bitter and icky. Even when I make coffee, I make it for other people and never for myself. Drinking small amounts of caffeinated soda in the morning is how I get the temporary energy to make an actual breakfast that will give me healthy energy throughout the entire day.", he stated.

"I know how I get my caffeine for the day!", Katsuragi yelled gleefully as she took a break from slurping ramen noodles and began to dash towards Asuka, only for Jake to glue Katsuragi's feet to the floor with spiderwebs after the blonde was halfway towards her target.

"It's too early in the morning for this.", Jake told his Senpai while casually taking a bite of his Reese's Puffs.

"What are you talking about?! It's never too early for boobies!", Katsuragi retorted.

"Hey, you guys?", Asuka spoke to get both of her classmates' attention. "There's something floating by the window."

Katsuragi and Jake quit their banter and looked to where Asuka was pointing. Levitating above the ground outside the kitchen window was a round sphere with a camera lens seemingly watching them.

"There are only two explanations to a floating metal ball spying on us. Either Obama's NSA Drones were tasked with monitoring shinobi activity in Japan, or that's an enemy to Hanzo gathering intel on us.", Jake concluded while trying to hold back laughter and wear a serious face.

"Whatever it is, it can't be good, and it should probably be destroyed.", Katsuragi said as fired a gust of air at the sphere. Instead of exploding into burning metal and circuitry, it dissolved into thin air almost like it was made out of nothing.

"Why did you say that was Obama spying on us?", Asuka asked Jake.

"It was just a joke. I was just trying to make the best of a bad situation to lighten the mood.", Jake replied.

"I don't even know who Obama is, Jake! I'm not American like you!", Asuka reminded him. As Jake and Asuka squabbled about the differences between Japanese referential humor and American referential humor, Katsuragi began to focus on the problem at hand.

**"That must have been an enemy spy gathering Intel!"**, Katsuragi thought to herself. **"If they're collecting data on us, that means they're going to attack soon!"**

After a lot of thinking, Katsuragi realized what this meant for her.

**"Finally! A worthy opponent!"**, she thought excitedly.

"... Sister Katsu...", Asuka spoke to Katsuragi. "That thing..."

"I know...", the blonde reassured her Kouhai. "We'll tell the others what happened when they get here."

**Cue Spongebob-esque Time Card**

"So, that's the deal.", Katsuragi finished explaining the situation to Ikaruga, Yagyu, and Hibari.

"I think we should tell Master Kiriya!", Hibari suggested.

"I agree.", Yagyu concurred. "It would be best for Kiriya-Sensei to handle this."

"But... isn't he away on business today?", Ikaruga recalled.

"... Crap.", everyone except Ikaruga slurred in unison.

"What should we do? Will someone really attack us?! Can we handle this?!", Hibari fretted.

"Calm down... No one's attacked us yet.", Yagyu said in an effort to calm the pinkette down.

"Hey, ladies...", Jake said to everyone else while looking out the window. "There's some girls outside down below."

In an effort to conceal their shinobi identities by not jumping down from the window, by Jake's suggestion, everyone took the secret passage that led to teacher's lounge and exited the building out of a normal student classroom to confront the girls standing outside.

"Damn! One of the girls I saw from the window isn't here!", Jake thought to himself.

"Hey! Who are you? And what are you doing here?", Asuka demanded the lone girl that was facing away from her.

"You six... are students of shinobi at Hanzo, if what I heard the other day is correct, yes?", the non-facing girl spoke.

"Shinobi?!", Ikaruga tried to cover Asuka and the others. "We do attend Hanzo, but we're just-"

"Don't deny it. I know the truth. My drone saw everything.", the girl spoke, turning towards the group to show her face whilst whipping out a Polaroid photo in a first-person view of Katsuragi directing an airblast towards the off-shot drone that was taking the photo.

"Homura! It's you!", Asuka exclaimed.

"Yes.", Homura replied. "I'm a student of shinobi at Hebijo Clandestine Girls' Academy."

"Hebijo?", Hibari asked, not sure of what it was.

"I've heard of it before.", Ikaruga stated. "Isn't that a school for training evil shinobi?"

"Correct.", Homura answered as she created a shinobi kekkai and activated her ninja turnover, which looked exactly the same as her uniform. Jake wondered if she had even activated a shinobi transformation at all.

"Hebijo is a secret school composed entirely of shinobi.", Homura informed the Hanzo students.

"That's swell and all, but what do you want from us?", Jake asked in a serious tone.

"Simple... Hanzo Academy's Super-Secret Ninja Art Scroll.", Homura replied plainly. "Give it to me and I'll leave peacefully."

"Oh, is that it?!", Ikaruga yelled. "We'd never give it to you! A Super-Secret Ninja Art Scroll is just that... completely super-secret!"

"And if we refuse... what then?", Katsuragi inquired.

"Then I'll take it by force!", Homura yelled as she drew six swords, three in each hand, and charged at the blonde Hanzo Kunoichi with murderous intent, giving her no time to react. As Homura was about to strike down Katsuragi, Asuka intercepted the blow with one of her Wakizashi.

"Sorry, Sister Katsu! I'll handle Homura-chan!", Asuka panted as she held off her attacker.

"Asuka...! But...", Katsu gritted her teeth.

"Please... If you're _that _desperate to fight, by all means...", Katsuragi heard an unknown bored voice.

"Who's there?!", Katsuragi demanded, frantically looking around to find out who the voice belonged to. Katsuragi barely dodged a green-haired girl swiping at her with a knife. This girl was also in Homura's group at the hot springs.

"Hikage...!", Katsuragi shouted, trying to dodge the aloof girl's slashes and jabs.

"Secret Ninja Art: Water Boomuriken Technique!", a male voice shouted as a large, blue, glowing shuriken struck at Hikage that tore through the earth and kept retreating and coming back at her, putting further distance between herself and Katsuragi each time the projectile returned to take another cut at the green-haired girl. The _Boomuriken _eventually returned to the person who cast it as Jake caught it and let it drip out of his hand.

"You need to get your head in the game, Blondie!", Jake told Katsuragi cheekily.

"Back off, Curls! This is my fight!", Katsuragi pouted.

"As you wish.", Jake replied. As he took Ikaruga, Yagyu, and Hibari to safety while Asuka and Homura clashed, Katsuragi turned to Hikage.

"Are you any good?", she asked with a grin.

"... I'd better be...", Hikage replied blandly. "They gave me this assignment, after all... so I must be, hmm?"

Meanwhile, Asuka and Homura continued to clash with sword against sword.

"Homura! I didn't think we'd meet again like this!", Asuka yelled as she parried a jab from Homura, then slashed towards the tanned swordfighter.

"Tell me...", the brunette asked. "Why do you need the Super-Secret Ninja Art Scroll?"

"To become the best shinobi, of course!", Homura answered. "Once I obtain the Super-Secret Ninja Art Scroll from every school, I'll be unstoppable!"

Asuka was completely baffled by this, as if Homura had just slurred the worst obscenity imaginable.

"That's not right...", Asuka said. "You don't need the scrolls to be the best- you just need hard work!"

Asuka and Homura continued to strike at each other with their swords as the former was talking.

"I saw your skill, Homura-chan... and you inspired me to train harder!", Asuka was now yelling in hopes of reaching through to her opponent. "You don't have to resort to using scrolls to be the best!"

"I disagree...", Homura said.

"What?"

"The best warrior will do _**anything **_to improve. That is the way of the Hebijo."

Asuka was at a loss for words. Had her idolization of Homura been misplaced? Was Homura really a bad person? Was Homura's Nindo right, or was Asuka's the correct one. Asuka didn't know and she began to tremble.

"That... That goes against the Shinobi Way...!"

Asuka began dashing towards Homura, sword at the ready.

"That can't be right!"

KYEEEN!

Homura snatched Asuka's sword out of her hands with one of her own swords and tossed it aside, leaving Asuka seemingly defenseless.

"This is too easy! Your offense is weak and slow, just like the rest of your friends!", Homura yelled. "Your journey ends here!"

As Homura slashed at Asuka with the intent to kill, Asuka shut her eyes tight awaiting death while unconciously raising her arms in an attempt to shield herself.

KLAAANG!

Homura stumbled backwards as the recoil of her sword striking a solid object made her fall on her behind.

"What the fu-?", Homura gasped at the sight before her.

Asuka, surprised that she hadn't been sliced in half by Homura, opened her eyes and saw a large earth column standing between her and where Homura was standing only a moment ago.

"Woo! Asuka! Way to go! But keep on the offensive!", Jake cheered for her standing a ways back with the other girls, sans Katsuragi, who was busy fighting Hikage. Asuka, now having her confidence restored, slightly lowered the column and did repeated horizontal karate chop slices on the earth as she shot them one at a time towards Homura, who got hit by the first three, but jumped out of the way to avoid the rest of them.

"Hmph...! That's enough!", Homura declared. "I only stopped by to test your mettle. Next time we meet, don't expect to survive the encounter. Hikage, we're leaving!"

And with that, Homura vanished, with Hikage, now having finished her fight with Katsuragi, following suit.

"Damn. They got away!", Katsuragi said, irritated at having lost her fight with Hikage. Asuka just remained silent while looking downtrodden.

"Asuka-chan!"

"Katsuragi-san!"

"Asuka!"

"... Senpai."

Hibari, Ikaruga, Jake, and Yagyu came running towards Asuka and Katsuragi. While Yagyu and Ikaruga checked on the blonde, Jake and Hibari, both being sensory shinobi, picked up on Asuka's sadness and comforted her.

"... Homura-chan..."

**The Classroom**

**4:13 PM**

Upon hearing the news that Hebijo students attacked his class, Kiriya returned to check on his students and make sure they were okay. Most of them were downtrodden, but otherwise perfectly fine.

"The principal told me everything.", he spoke to his class. "You six did... pretty..." Kiriya couldn't continue with what he was originally going to say. "Look, if any of you are feeling sorry for yourselves for losing to Hebijo students, forget about becoming shinobi and leave this school now.", Kiriya said rather bluntly.

"Don't you think that's a little harsh, Master Kiriya?", Jake asked.

"I agree with Jake.", Ikaruga stated, earning a nod of approval from the male student.

"Yeah! C'mon, Master Kiriya! Give us a break!", Katsuragi complained. "Say what you want about me, but Asuka is only a second year, and she took on the enemy leader by herself! It's impressive that she survived! Jake was able to stand toe-to-toe with Hikage before he left her for me to deal with upon me requesting him to do so. And I ended up losing. Jake could have easily taken her if I wasn't so stubborn! Don't you think they deserve a little credit?!"

"Hebijo trains _Evil Ninja_. They fight without ethics or morals.", Kiriya reminded his students. "They aren't selective about their methods like we are. They will attack relentlessly until they get what they want... like a snake."

"Uncle... do you think that Yami's reincarnation might have possible ties with the Hebijo?", Jake asked Kiriya.

"I'm not sure, Jake. But I think it's safe to make it a possible suspicion.", Kiriya answered.

"Do you think we can avoid another fight?", Ikaruga asked.

"There is no negotiating with them. They will attack again."

"In that case... why don't we attack them first?", Katsuragi suggested.

"If you want to attack them, you need to know where they are.", Kiriya replied, causing Katsuragi to groan and slump her head.

"Hey! Cheer up!", Hibari said happily. "Master Kiriya is here, so we're okay for now!"

"Of course. Master Kiriya will protect us.", Ikaruga said confidently.

"I refuse to take part in your fight with Hebijo and Yami, though I think you already knew that, Jake."

"Master Kiriya, I fully accept my destiny and I intend to fight Yami eventually without protection from you or Grandpa, but what about Asuka and the others?", Jake inquired. "Surely you can't just let them die?"

"As I said before, I refuse to fight the Hebijo alongside you.", Kiriya repeated.

"Wh... What?! You won't help us?!", Asuka asked in shock.

"You'd just let us die?! How could you be so cold?!", Hibari asked with tears in her eyes.

"I've told you before... It doesn't matter that you are students. You must have a shinobi's resolve."

"..."

Kiriya sighed.

"You six. I need to tell you a personal story about what happened around eight years ago at Hanzo."

Everyone gave their whole attention to their teacher, wanting to hear the tale.

"Eight years ago, I was a new teacher at Hanzo, and I had a student named Rin. She was one of my first students, and she dreamed of one day becoming a super-ninja. In many ways, she resembled you, Asuka." Kiriya took a minute to breathe, then continued.

"She was extremely skilled and was considered a prodigy. I cared very much for her success and well-being. She ended up taking her graduation finals, and was pitted against ninjutsu puppets, the test being to destroy all of the puppets without taking any damage. She had succeeded in destroying most of the puppets, but she was unaware that she missed one hiding in the environment behind her. The puppet was about to fire a kunai at her, but knowing that her getting hit by the kunai would mean that she would fail her graduation finals and would have to repeat her senior year in order to achieve her lifelong dream of becoming a super-ninja, I secretly intervened and destroyed the puppet without her knowledge or at the time, Master Hanzo's knowledge. She _passed _the test and was sent into the shinobi world to participate in real missions. I later ended up regretting what I had done, because a couple of months after the exam, I found out that she had been killed during a mission. I realized that my decision to let her pass before she was ready ended up costing her her own life, and that, in a way, it was my fault that she died."

The students were now holding each other and sniffling, saddened by Kiriya's heartbreaking tale.

"And that is why I won't help you. I don't want what happened to Rin happen to the rest of you because of me babying you. I'll say it again. If you plan to rely on me in your fight against Hebijo, forget about becoming shinobi and leave this school."

Everyone in the room was dead silent, until Asuka clenched her fist and spoke.

"Master Kiriya... I... I want to train harder!", Asuka demanded.

"Me, too!", Jake agreed.

"Totally!", Katsuragi said.

"And me.", Ikaruga concurred.

"Ditto...", Yagyu stated.

"I'll do my best, too", Hibari declared. "I'll fight without relying on you. Please, Master Kiriya... I'm ready to get run through the grinder!"

Kiriya's lips curled into a small smile at his students' newfound determination and courage.

"All right... I accept your request...", Kiriya said. "Let's start training!"

"Let's go!", the six students said in unison while pumping their fists in the air.

**BONUS CHAPTER (Holy Shit!)**

**Locker Cleaning**

It's locker cleaning day, and Master Kiriya is having his students organize the boy's and girl's locker rooms. Asuka was showing Jake around the girls' locker room so he could get an idea of what he should be doing.

"Our locker room is pretty roomy.", Asuka pointed out to Jake. "As you can see-ACK! What the heck are you doing, Sister Katsu?!"

Katsuragi was standing in front of Jake and Asuka wearing nothing but a extremely skimpy swimsuit that resembled a red ribbon barely covering her breasts and **(cough, cough) **_other area._

_"_Jesus Tapdancing Christ, Kat! Do you really have to wear that when I'm in here?!", Jake asked in a raised voice.

"What? Should I change outside, instead?", Katsuragi asked the two second-years, oblivious to any shame or common sense that she should have.

"No! I mean, why are you wearing that... ribbon?!", Asuka asked while pointing at Katsuragi's clothing (if you could call it that). The Blonde suddenly sported a huge grin and was now drooling.

"Ohh, I get! You want to put this on instead so you can grab Jake's attention with your sexy curves!"

Jake fainted upon hearing this and fell to the ground with a huge smile and a tomato red face.

"Absolutely not.", Asuka replied.

"Sure, it rides up a little, but you get used to it fast!", Katsuragi said attempting to encourage her Kouhai to put on her current outfit.

"No, really. Never.", Asuka said plainly.

"Jeez, sorry.", Katsuragi pouted. "Why do we even have this outfit, Sensei?"

Kiriya turned to Katsuragi to answer her.

"A shinobi must be able to handle any situation, no matter how daunting. Even that ribbon suit thing.", Kiriya replied. "Speaking of which, please change into a more school-appropriate outfit."

"Dang. Always ruining my fun.", Katsuragi muttered under her breath.

"Yeah... but...", Hibari spoke. "Why would we ever need this?", she asked while wearing a revealing kimono, much to Yagyu's secret enjoyment. Hibari left and came back a minute later, now changed in a different outfit.

"This is kinda cute! Heehee! I'm a scary succubus!"

"Yes. I agree.", Yagyu said with a smile.

"Cute?! When did skanky become cute?!", Asuka asked.

"This one's nice, too.", Hibari noted, now changed into a sexy casino bunny costume.

"Oh, yes. I like it, too...", Yagyu's voice trailed off as she became lost in her fantasies.

"Yagyu-chan, your nose is bleeding...", Asuka pointed out nonchalantly.

"This one's nice!", Katsuragi said while wearing a red cheongsam which showed off her legs and cleavage in an attempt to be complemented by Yagyu.

"Meh... I've seen better.", Yagyu replied, now back to her normal self.

"What's going on? You're all acting so strange.", Asuka asked to no one in particular.

"Are you alright, Asuka?", Yagyu inquired after appearing from behind the Brunette.

"Oh, Yagyu-chan... I'm fi-"

Asuka turned around to face Yagyu, but fell silent mid sentence after seeing her Kouhai in a revealing shrine maiden outfit.

"... I'm fine... I'm just afraid of losing myself! That's all!", Asuka said.

"What's the matter? Do you have a problem?", the silver-haired girl asked.

"Yes, I see something wrong, right in front of me.", Asuka replied.

"Something's wrong with me? Forget about me! I'm worried about you, Asuka! You're acting unusual!", Yagyu stated.

"I'm not sure you understand my point!"

"I feel bad when you're depressed, Asuka..."

"You and me both!"

"Please... if there's anything I can do... we're comrades.", Yagyu spoke, trying to make her Senpai feel better.

"Thanks, Yagyu-chan.", Asuka said as she walked away.

"Nothing's going my way today...", Asuka sighed as her body slumped in depression.

"I agree. It's unusual for you to be so unhappy...", Ikaruga's voice spoke.

"Ikaruga-san?!"

Asuka looked only to hear metaphorical glass shattering upon seeing the class representative.

"Since I have your attention, how about... this outfit for me?"

Ikaruga was wearing a maid outfit similar to Yomi's shinobi turnover, although it was black instead of teal and was slightly different in design.

"Ack! You're acting like this, too?!"

"Uhh, Master Kiriya... why do we have this outfit in the boys' locker room?", Jake, now conscious again, and having been so for awhile, asked the shinobi class' teacher. All of the girls turned to where Jake's voice was coming from, only to see Jake wearing a chippendales outfit with black sequin pants, his signature black Nike shoes with red laces, white cufflinks, a black tie, and no shirt or upper body clothing, showing off the more defined muscles he had gained during his shinobi training since his arrival. Asuka was pale as a ghost, Ikaruga was looking down while blushing, Katsuragi was drooling a waterfall, giggling hysterically while groping the air, Yagyu's nose spurted a huge amount of blood as she passed out from the sight, and Hibari blushed while pulling her skirt down slightly as if she didn't want her thighs exposed for anyone to see. Jake turned from talking to Kiriya to see the girls who hadn't already fainted were staring at him with the various expressions described above.

"... 'Sup, girls?", Jake asked with a flirty grin.

"... THAT'S IT! I GIVE UP!", Asuka screamed in frustration as she stomped into the locker room. The room was dead silent until Jake said something to break the silence.

"I think Asuka just had a Grumps Sonic '06 moment.", he spoke.

**Meanwhile, in the Girls' Locker Room...**

**"Why? Why am I the weird one?"**, Asuka thought to herself, shedding tears all the while. In her head, she saw her five classmates in their various outfits, all enjoying themselves, while Asuka stood off to the side in her normal attire, alone.

**"A shinobi must be able to handle any situation, no matter how daunting."**, Kiriya's words from earlier echoed through her head.

"Hey! That's it! This is a test!", Asuka spoke confidently as she started grabbing clothes out of the locker room. "It has to be..."

Asuka began to get dressed in her new attire.

"In order to become a full-fledged shinobi, I... Asuka... will dance as a shinobi!"

Asuka sprang out of the locker room wearing a Hatsune Miku-esque outfit with a frilly skirt, flower cufflinks, black stockings, and a large red bow in her hair, and struck a pose in front of her classmates, resulting in Hibari and Jake clapping.

"Wow, you look so cute, Asuka-chan!", Hibari complimented her Senpai.

"EEEHH?!"

Asuka looked and saw everyone was sitting at the kitchen table, dressed back in their normal clothes, doing their own thing.

"What?! That wasn't a test?!", Asuka shouted. "Why were you five acting so weird?! Hibari-chan?!"

"Eh, there were so many cute clothes.", the pinkette replied.

"Yagyu-chan?!"

"I was just supporting Hibari.", Yagyu stated bluntly.

"Ikaruga-san?!"

"I'm the the class representative.", Ikaruga responded.

"Jeiku-kun?!"

"I wasn't going to allow you five to upstage me!", he remarked with a grin.

"And Sister Katsu... eh, never mind. I understand you."

"Hey! What the hell's that supposed to mean?!", Katsuragi asked, irritated at what Asuka was trying to imply. "I'm just trying to provide comic relief. That's a lot of work!", she stated.

"Did you finish cleaning, Asuka?", Ikaruga asked. "We're all done."

"Eh..." was all Asuka could say.

"Asuka..."

The brunette looked up to her side to see Master Kiriya giving her an irritated look.

"Master Kiriya..."

"Get back to work!", Kiriya ordered intimidatingly.

"Yes, Sir!", Asuka replied immediately with a slightly shaky voice.

"And stay focused!", he added as Asuka began to hurry up, scrubbing the classroom floor.

**END**

**So yeah, I hope you guys liked this chapter and stuff. Next chapter will be the Murasame encounter, so look forward to that. Also, Zero-Nightmare was kind enough to point out to me that Hikage also has a part-time job at a restaurant in the games, and he asked me if I would include that in the story with Jake and Hiro. Originally, the whole thing about Jake working part time was created to explain how Jake was able to have money to live by himself in Japan with zero family members living with him or helping him financially after his initial arrival in the country. But I will now add Hikage working with Jake at Hiro's restaurant to add another character dynamic between him and the girls. Also, as of this chapter, although I've only gotten around 30% of the way the first arc of my planned two arcs for this fanfiction, I've already started conceptualizing the epilogue to this whole saga, including the final character pairings, which includes characters, both official and OCs, who won't debut until the second arc, as well as the children of the unrevealed pairings. This won't happen until the very end of the story, as it's an epilogue. I also plan to have an origin story chapter near the end of this arc revealing the entire story of Hikaru and Yami, though it won't happen for a while as well, but will still come sooner than the epilogue. Also, I have an idea of doing this non-canon reader mail segment where readers ask a specific character from this story a question and they will answer it. But it won't be serious questions like "Who is going to become Jake's GF?", but more like jokey, non-serious questions, like, for example, "In the SK Videogames, the girls have jiggle physics in their breasts. But Jake is a guy, so does he have jiggle physics of any kind?", and Jake the character will answer "My afro has jiggle physics, but that's it." in the style of a MAGFEST/ Comic-Con Q&amp;A Panel. So yeah, non-serious questions. Go ahead and ask away if you want to contribute to this planned bonus and address the question towards a specific character from the story. If you want serious questions answered, PM me, the author, and I will answer as best as I can without giving away spoilers. The characters you can ask questions to are Jake, Asuka, Ikaruga, Katsuragi, Yagyu, Hibari, Homura, Yomi, Hikage, Mirai, Haruka, Kiriya, Hanzo, Asuka's Parents, Hiro, Akira (Jake's old landlord), and Scarlet. If you liked this story, you can follow, favorite, or review but you are not inclined to do so. Thanks for reading, see you next time, and Happy Martin Luther King Day for the Lovelies in the US!**


	6. Chapter 6

**UPDATE: 3-28-15: Fixed Original Upload Issues, Spelling/Grammar, the usual shit**

**Original Publish Date: 2-3-15**

**Author's Note: So many chapters ago, I wrote in the endslate that I had an idea for a Pokemon Fanfic loosely based around the events of Black 2/White 2, with an OC, Sabrina, the OC's talking Greninja, Nate, Rosa, and Hugh being the six main characters. I'm proud to say that the plot has mostly been finished with all of the planned pokemon teams being finalized about a day before I began writing this chapter. So this will be the last chapter for Chosen by Light that I write before taking a very short break from this series and publish the first couple of chapters of my new story before returning to this and alternating between both my stories. Also, I had completely forgot to add the disclaimer about Senran Kagura being the property of Kenichiro Takagi and Marvelous AQL and how the OCs belong to me. I'll be sure to do the disclaimer from now on, and hopefully, I don't forget in the future of this story as well as my pokemon story. So, yeah... This chapter will be the Murasame encounter. Hope you all enjoy it. Just so I don't forget:**

**"I do not own the Senran Kagura Series. Senran Kagura belongs to Kenichiro Takagi and Marvelous AQL. I just own the OCs. Please support the official release."**

**There, now on with the new chapter!**

**Chapter 6**

**Strained Relations**

**Hanzo Elite Classroom**

**7:51 AM**

Ikaruga had arrived to class early before anyone else, as she always does. The room was dark and quiet, and having already set up her school supplies, spent the time leading up to the bell polishing her sword, lost in deep thought while remembering how it came to be in her possession.

**Flashback**

**8 years ago**

**Houou Family Manor**

Ikaruga was a young girl who was going through life changing events. After her parents had untimely passed away, she was adopted by distant blood relatives to become the heiress to their family's shinobi bloodline after they found out their birth son was not cut out to be a shinobi. She had already started taking classes for Japanese Tea Ceremonies and Japanese Economics, as well as learning her new family's history and was set to start basic shinobi training within a few days. She and her new father were standing in the mansion hallway outside a door, where the latter was about to introduce her to her adoptive brother.

"Ikaruga, since you are now a part of our family, I think its time you met your older brother. Afterwards, I will pass down our family heirloom to you, which you will use in your shinobi training.", the man spoke. He looked down at the short-haired bob-cut girl, who was looking off into space with a gloomy look on her face.

"I know you are still saddened by the loss of your parents. Losing one's family is not easy for anyone, regardless of age, and a girl as young as you should never have to feel that kind of emotional pain. But I hope we will be able to help you heal your pain and be happy together.", Mr. Houou smiled. He opened the door and led Ikaruga inside and closed the door behind him.

"Murasame.", he spoke to a young man sitting in a luxurious leather chair. He had sickly pale skin and straight but untidy black hair that reached down to below his neck. He looked away from the television he was watching and glared at his father, and then even more intensely towards Ikaruga, before returning his eyes to his show.

"Murasame, this is your new little sister, Ikaruga. As of today, she's a member of our immediate family. Ikaruga, say hello to your brother, dear."

The young girl looked towards Murasame with a friendly smile and introduced herself.

"Hi, it's nice to meet you.", she spoke.

"Hmmph.", was his response. Ikaruga looked confused at his response when he spoke up.

"So tell me something...", the boy spoke with contempt. "How much money did my old man pay for you?"

Ikaruga's smile disappeared and she looked down, deciding the floor was suddenly very interesting to distract herself from what he said.

"Watch your mouth, Murasame. She's a distant relative.", the older male scolded.

"Whatever you say...", the boy said uncaringly. "Like it matters... It doesn't change the fact that you've forsaken me, _father._"

"That's enough out of you!"

Ikaruga and her father left the room and walked down the hallway towards her new room so she could rest. Ikaruga spoke up on the way there.

"I think he hates me."

Now in Ikaruga's room, the man closed the door behind him and looked down at the young girl and brought her chin up so he could see her eyes.

"Don't worry about him. There are times where we are forced to be resolute, even with our own flesh and blood. That is the law of shinobi.", he said as he handed her a valuable-looking sword. Ikaruga took it and looked at it curiously.

"What is this?", she asked.

"Hien. It is a sword that has been in our family for generations. Now, I'm handing it down to you, my daughter."

Ikaruga was in awe.

"To me? Thank you, father!", the girl said happily as she embraced the elder man in a hug, while outside the door, Murasame was glaring at them through the keyhole, completely unnoticed.

"That sword should have been mine.", he gritted his teeth. "I swear to make that brat suffer for taking away my birthright!"

**End of Flashback**

Ikaruga was lifted from her thoughts when she heard the school bell ring, followed by the entrance of Jake, Katsuragi, Hibari, and Yagyu, with Asuka arriving many seconds later.

"Morning!", Katsuragi spoke.

"Hello!", Hibari greeted happily.

"Wow... You're early, Ikaruga.", Jake said.

"Yeah... It's normal for her, though.", Katsuragi stated.

"Good morning.", Ikaruga said with a smile as she sheathed her sword.

"Good morning, Ikaruga-san!", Asuka greeted happily. There was a poof of smoke that covered the entire room and Kiriya was standing at the front when it dissipated.

"Class, let's begin.", he spoke. "Today's lesson is about your family trees."

"Family trees? That's soooo boooring! Can't we have a practice spar instead?", Katsuragi yawned.

"Calm down. There's more to your training than just fighting.", Kiriya requested.

"Umm... So, the lesson is about our ancestors? What do we do?", Hibari asked.

"You're each going to trace your lineage. It's extremely important that you know this, who your shinobi ancestors were, and what you've inherited from them."

"Master Kiriya! How far back should we go?", Asuka asked.

"As far as you can, beginning with the oldest shinobi relative you're aware of.", the man responded.

"Okay, got it!", Asuka acknowledged as she started scribbling down on her paper with most of the others doing the same.

"Done-ion Rings!", Jake declared as he held up his paper with himself and one ancestor written down alongside a caricature of each. On the top of the paper was the face of a boy with wavy sky-blue hair that was labeled "Hikaru" and the lineage ranking of "Previous Life", while at the bottom of the paper was Jake's signature self-portrait with his name listed and the lineage labeled "Hanzo Student".

"Jake, you didn't even have to do this assignment. I was going to just let you draw.", Kiriya deadpanned.

"Well, whatever. I still did the assignment.", Jake replied as he got out his sketchbook and began to draw who-knows-what.

"I'm finished!", Asuka stated as she raised her hand to get Kiriya's attention.

"That was fast.", Kiriya replied, thinking that with Asuka's lineage, her family tree would have taken longer to write down.

"In my family, my mom, grandma, and grandpa are shinobi.", Asuka described. "Since my dad is an ordinary person he doesn't really approve. But I still want to be a great shinobi like my grandpa."

"... Alright, then.", Kiriya noted. As Yagyu quietly wrote, Katsuragi stared at her paper and scratched her head with her brush, and Hibari just complained about having to write down her entirely shinobi family, due to it having many more members than a normal family **(they must breed like... well, rabbits. Pun intended)**. Ikaruga had written down her parents' names, but was now staring at the two empty branches coming from her parents' names, completely oblivious to everything around her.

"What's the matter, Ikaruga? Why did you stop?", Kiriya asked the class representative. Ikaruga came back to reality when she heard her name being spoken.

"Oh, I'm sorry. I'll finish my work.", she said quietly as she wrote down just her own name while her eyes began to water.

"Ikaruga-san. What's wrong?", Asuka asked with curiosity.

"Oh, don't worry. It's nothing.", Ikaruga said while forcing back her tears and she tried her best to smile convincingly, while Jake silently watched out of the corner of his eye with skepticism and worry.

"Class, it is now lunchtime, and I'm going to go get coffee with someone.", Kiriya said the last part with a slightly blushing, but still stern face.

"Ooh, someone's got a hot date!", Jake teased with glee, knowing who Kiriya was getting coffee with. "Getting a drink with Auntie Akira!"

All the girls sans Ikaruga joined Jake in looking at their teacher with amused faces.

"It's not like that, Jake!", the silver-haired man attempted to deny in embarrassment, now completely red in the face. He then regained his composure and cleared his throat. "But, yes. I'm taking up Akira on the offer she made when we were moving your possessions out of your apartment a few weeks ago. Ikaruga, you're in charge while I'm gone."

"Yes, Sir.", she saluted.

**Hanzo Academy Meadow/Elite Class Lunch Area**

**12:14 PM**

After Kiriya had left, the students decided to have a lunch picnic under a tree outside their classroom. After everyone had seemingly set up, everyone began to eat.

"Ew! You're eating surume again?!", Hibari asked in disgust.

"Like I told you before, don't insult my squid.", Yagyu said as she slightly turned away from Hibari so that her food wouldn't be taken from her. Ikaruga had opened her bento box to discover something was missing.

"No tea..."

"Mmmph?", Asuka said said with a complete mouthful of futomaki.

"Yeah...", Katsuragi answered for Asuka while blowing on her ramen to cool it down. "When she eats food like this, she _has _to have it with green tea."

"Oh dear. I'll be right back.", Ikaruga stood up as she walked back to the classroom to make tea. Jake was perched up in the tree the girls were sitting under, eating a banana, and quickly finished his fruit and jumped down.

"She's been acting odd all day. Something's been bothering her, but she doesn't want us to worry, which is just making me more worried. I'm gonna go talk to her and see what's up.", Jake declared as he left to go after Ikaruga, avoiding alerting the latter that she was being trailed by altering the light around him to turn completely invisible minus the fact that he still left behind footprints and cast a large shadow on the ground, which the remaining girls watched slide across the ground into the distance before merging with the shadow being cast by the large school.

**Meanwhile...**

Ikaruga had stepped inside the classroom and noticed that the lighting in the room was noticeably darker than when she and the others had left it, and her body tensed when she felt a negative presence coming from the dorm hallway. She heard footsteps approaching and immediately threw some kunai knives through the doorway.

"Who's there?!", she demanded. "Show yourself!"

There were a few seconds of silence before a voice spoke from the hallway.

"Hey, hey. You'll poke someone's eye out if you aren't careful."

Ikaruga froze when she heard that voice, and she saw a familiar figure emerge from the hallway, carrying Ikaruga's sword in his left hand. It was Murasame.

"Brother!"

"Heh. It's been a while, _sister_.", he spoke with a psychotic grin.

"What are you doing with Hien?", she asked despite already knowing the answer.

"Oh? The family sword? Hahahahaha! You sure you want to know?!", Murasame asked back in maniacal laughter. "This sword is mine.", he answered. "I can do whatever I want with it."

"It's not yours.", she retorted. "Mom and Dad passed it down to me. Not you."

"Mom and Dad?", he asked tauntingly and tensely at the same time. "HOW DARE YOU!"

Murasame was now yelling and gritting his teeth so hard that he accidentally bit his lip to the point of bleeding, though he didn't notice or care at the moment.

"It's true! I lack the skill to use Hien!", he admitted. "But this treasure has always been in MY FAMILY!"

Ikaruga was now starting to hyperventilate from remembering all of the bullying and emotional trauma that he had caused her and how he made her feel filthy and impure and was now reliving all of her worst memories, including the cold, uncaring person she had been shaped into and stayed as for 6 years until she met Katsuragi during her first year at Hanzo.

"Hien doesn't belong to someone outside our bloodline! IT'S NOT FOR SOME PIECE-OF-SHIT ADOPTED BRAT LIKE YOU!"

"Hey! That's no way to treat your sister!", another male voice yelled. Murasame turned and saw a tall boy with the male Hanzo uniform and a small afro glaring at him while walking over to the now sobbing Ikaruga. Murasame felt somewhat intimidated by the boy's height, but didn't let his face show it and continued in mocking the girl.

"What are you, her boyfriend?!", Murasame teased.

"Why does that matter to you?", Jake asked coldly.

"Because I thought I made her a weak-willed, emotionless, and hostile person in my act of revenge for this brat taking my sword! This stupid little girl shouldn't have been able to develop connections to others after what I did to her!"

"Jake...", Ikaruga sniffled while clutching the male Hanzo student's arm. "He tortured me... He tormented me for many years. He made me into a bad person... He made me evil..."

"Ikaruga, you're not a bad person!", Jake stated heatedly.

"Yes I am!"

"No, you're not! I don't know how you were in the past, but that's not who you are now! You're the class representative! And an extremely skilled kunoichi! You're the smartest person I've ever met so far in my life! And most importantly, you're part of my family!", Jake said with teary, but prideful eyes as he grabbed her hand and gave it a squeeze while looking at her in her ocean blue irises.

"You're my older sister. And not just mine. You're also the big sister to Katsuragi, Asuka, Yagyu, and Hibari. We idolize you. You're the voice of reason when the rest of us are being unruly and fighting. We look up to you. You inspire us to be better people. You protect us, and we protect you in return. You're not the helpless little girl this prick right here used to pick on. You're strong. I know you're strong. You're a good person, and you need to know that and believe in yourself. He can't hurt you anymore because you're better than he is. But I need you to prove it to him, and take back what is yours."

Jake ran his thumb across the top of the ravenette's hand before letting go and stepping to the side, as Ikaruga, reassured in herself, stood up straight and firmly looked at Murasame in the eyes.

**"What the hell is happening?! What did he do?!"**, Murasame thought as he started to sweat from looking into Ikaruga's now fiery eyes.

"Brother. Hien was entrusted to me by Mom and Dad. I swore to never give it to anyone. Please give it back and I'll let you go. If you don't, if necessary, I will retrieve Hien by force.", Ikaruga stated fiercely.

"Fine! I dare you to try!", Murasame taunted, pulling out a chain sickle to attack with.

Ikaruga dashed in the blink of an eye, and when she was visible again, she was holding Hien tightly with both hands, while Murasame was bewildered when he realized that the sword was no longer in his grasp.

"Dammit!", he cursed. He then began spinning his chain sickle in his arms, gaining more momentum with each swing.

"I may not be a great swordsman...", He admitted. "But I did place sixth in the local chain sickle contest a couple of years back! I'm deadly with this!"

Murasame tossed his weapon at Ikaruga as it wrapped around her body and binded her in place.

"BWAHAHAHAHA...! I'VE GOT YOU NOW!"

Ikaruga suddenly poofed into smoke as the chains fell to the ground, leaving behind a wooden log.

"What the fu-?", Murasame was now confused.

"Brother... That was just a substitution."

Murasame turned around to see Ikaruga standing behind him holding a chain switch coming from the ceiling.

"Please, take care."

Ikaruga pulled the switch to reveal a trap door underneath Murasame as he fell through the floor, but he caught the edge of the opening, managing to hold on.

"You haven't gotten rid of me, bitch!", Murasame glared from below Ikaruga. Ikaruga proceeded to harshly stomp on Murasame's gripping fingers.

"OW!"

Murasame let go from the pain and began to fall into the pit.

"DAMN YOOOU!", he screamed as he disappeared below.

"I wonder what'll hit the bottom first?", Jake thought to himself as he spit a large loogie into the trapdoor. He didn't have to wait long to find out.

"ACK! GROSS! THERE'S SPIT ON MY FACE!", Jake heard from below, followed by a huge splash of water at the bottom. Jake closed the trapdoor as Ikaruga walked into the girls' bedroom to return Hien to it's mantle on the wall, with the former following the latter. After Ikaruga gently placed her sword in it's proper spot, she turned around and looked at Jake with a neutral face before tears formed in her eyes and she ran towards him, tackling him to the ground as she lay atop him sobbing into his chest. Jake didn't move from his spot and let Ikaruga get her emotions out, while moving her hair behind her ear with his hand as he ran his fingers through her straight black hair in an effort to comfort her. He marveled at it's softness and he himself was becoming soothed from brushing it, closing his eyes as he sighed while the girl continued to cry and make his shirt wet with tears and a little snot. Jake did not pay any mind to his dirtying clothes as he focused solely on comforting Ikaruga. After a while, she stopped crying and she looked up at Jake.

"Thank you, Jake.", she smiled.

"You're welcome. I'll Always be there for you.", he smiled back. He then looked at the classroom clock and saw that twenty minutes had passed since they left the picnic.

"They're probably wondering where we are.", Ikaruga said, having caught on to what Jake was doing.

"Well, I'm hungry, again. I'm gonna make some fried potatoes. Are you gonna get your tea?", he asked.

"Yeah.", she replied.

"Wait a minute. Ikaruga, what if they ask what we've been doing the past twenty minutes?"

"Make potatoes for all of us, and I'll make tea for all of us. We'll bring it out there and tell them we've been preparing food and drinks the whole time and that we had a talk together. They shouldn't worry about what really happened.", Ikaruga answered.

"Now you're just reiterating my earlier statement about you being smart.", he laughed. Ikaruga giggled at this.

"Well, then... Let's get started."

**Meanwhile, under the tree...**

**12:45 PM**

"What's taking them so long?!", Katsuragi complained. "They've been gone for thirty-one minutes!"

"What if something bad happened to Big Sis &amp; Bro?", Hibari worried. "What if Hebijo attacked again while they were gone and we haven't noticed?!"

"Calm down, Hibari. I'm sure they're fine.", Yagyu assured her.

Asuka, having seen Jake's open artbook he had left at the picnic, and seeing Jake's family tree of him and his family back in America, as well as another drawing similar along those lines, had been inspired to draw something similar for the past half hour. She had just finished and put her pencil and paper down, deciding to volunteer to look for the two.

"I'm gonna go see if they're okay."

"There's no need! We're fine!", Jake's voice yelled. He was carrying a tray filled to the brim with fried potatoe wedges and six bowls, while Ikaruga walked next to him holding a tray and teapot while a water clone of Jake's carried the teacups.

"Sweet! More food!", Katsuragi said merrily.

"Ikaruga-san! You should see what Jeiku-kun made!", Asuka said excitedly.

"What are you talking about? She watched me make these!", Jake's water clone motioned towards the potato wedges the real Jake was setting down on the picnic blanket.

"No, I mean what you drew!", Asuka held up Jake's sketchbook that had a portrait of the six of them drawn as younger interpretations of themselves standing in order by age in natural poses childlike poses, with the girls having normal-sized chests due to their ages in the picture. Ikaruga was wearing an elementary school uniform smiling with Katsuragi wearing a white t-shirt and spats swinging her right arm around the former's neck and her left hand in a thumbs up pose looking at the viewer. Next to them were Jake and Asuka playfully rough housing with each other, Jake wearing blue overalls over a long-sleeved white shirt with his hair drawn much shorter to resemble what it looked like in the past, and Asuka in a red camisole and flip flops. And finally, next to them were Yagyu and Hibari, the former wearing a pink camisole similar to Asuka's, except it had a cartoon chibi squid on it's front and pink sandals and she didn't have her eyepatch. At the end was Hibari dressed in a pink child's night gown and pink bunny slippers while holding a Ninto plush doll in one hand and sleepily rubbing her eyes with the other.

"Hehe... That's actually what I looked like back then.", Katsuragi smiled.

"Yup. We're just a big, happy family.", Jake said.

"Jake drew this and it inspired me to do my own take on it.", Asuka smiled as she showed a family tree she made of the six of them. "Check it out! Ikaruga-san is like a mother, Katsu-née is like a boy, so I put her as the father. Then there's me, Jeiku-kun, Hibari-chan, and Yagyu-chan as the kids."

"I'm melting with positivity!", Jake said with a goofy smile as his water clone melted onto the grass as if to add emphasis, which caused them all to laugh.

"Thank you... Asuka-san... Jeiku-kun!", Ikaruga smiled as she passed out tea cups to everyone.

"Cheers to us!", everyone chanted.

**Later, that night...**

**Principal's Office**

**8:13 PM**

Hanzo, Asuka's grandfather, was in his office late, filling out paperwork, when he heard a knock on the door.

"Come in!", he spoke loudly.

The door slid open and in walked an old lady dressed in a red elder's kimono who appeared to be around Hanzo's age. Hanzo looked and saw it was his wife.

"Ah, Sayuri. Is there something you wanted to see me about, Honey?"

"_We_ heard about the hot springs last weekend.", she spoke.

"Ah, yes. The students were working hard, and I thought they deserved a break, so I arranged a field trip for them to go to the hot springs as a reward."

"Asuka told _us _about what you did there.", Sayuri spoke with an irritated look in her eyes.

Hanzo froze as he saw his daughter, who looked like a grown-up Asuka with medium length flowing hair and maroon lipstick, and an equally large bust, stomp into the office with an enraged look on her face and proceeded to slug the old man so hard he crashed into the shelf behind his desk.

"WHAT THE HELL WERE YOU DOING SPYING ON YOUR HALF-NAKED GRANDDAUGHTER, YOU STUPID OLD GEEZER?! IF YOU WEREN'T MY DAD, I'D KILL YOU WHERE YOU STAND FOR BEING SUCH A PERVERTED DOOFUS! HOW MANY MORE TIMES MUST I PULVERIZE YOU BEFORE YOU QUIT ACTING LIKE A DIRTY OLD MAN?! ANSWER ME!", Asuka's mother was now violently shaking Hanzo by the shoulders as he answered to his daughter in fear.

"I-I'M S-S-SORRY! I'LL ST-S-STOP BEING A D-D-DIRTY OLD MAN!", he apologized while continuing to be given whiplash.

"YOU'D DAMN WELL BETTER BE! SECRET NINJA ART: CHERRY BLOSSOM TOAD FLAME!"

There was then a huge explosion of fire on the top floor of the school building where Hanzo's office was as a giant crater was left in it's place. Hanzo tried to get away with the Flying Squirrel Technique, but his ankle was grabbed as Asuka's mother threw him through the wall into the main office, where he lay sprawled on the floor.

"WE'RE NOT DONE YET! YOU HAVE A WORLD OF HURT COMING YOUR WAY!", the middle-aged woman growled as she dragged her father into the classroom across from the office.

"SAYURI! HELP ME!", Hanzo pleaded to his wife.

"I'll see you at home sweetie. It's getting late, so I'm going to bed.", Sayuri chimed as she left the classroom so her daughter could dole out his punishment. Meanwhile, in the hallway, Jake, Asuka, and her father were sitting in lawn chairs, watching the spectacle unfold before them. Jake passed Asuka a bag of popcorn while he handed a Sapporo Beer to her father, then proceeded to hit record on the camera he had set up as he opened a bag of M&amp;Ms intended for him as Sayuri walked over to Asuka.

"Don't stay up too late, sweetie. Gramma loves you!", she told her granddaughter.

"Don't worry, I won't.", Asuka assured her while Jake gave the elder a kind smile. As Sayuri left, the three watched Hanzo get the beating of a lifetime.

"I love your family.", Jake said with a grin.

"I know you do.", she giggled.

**END :P**

**Holy shit! This was probably the most difficult chapter for me to write so far. So yeah, my next couple of uploads will be for my new Pokemon fanfic before I update this story again, and I'll alternate between the two. Shout out to the lovelies SSS-the-hedgehog-black, Unicorn 359, my homie Zero-Nightmare, ThaviduZeroX, dad90, The Kitsune Saiyan, MrSpartan3398, fellow SKFF writers Fear Ripper and GamerJay, AnimeFanfic4Ever, Shadowlink223, Angel of Light darkness, TYZO300, deus-rasengan2, HerculesPoirot,DragonxNegima2, Junichiro Nakashima, GreyMan19, Skies-of-Total-Darkness, Trollolol LOL, Pax Guy, Senran LOVAH, and RiderKnight 001. All of you have liked, followed, favorited, and/or reviewed this story and it is greatly appreciated, but not obligatory. Have a great day and see you soon!**


	7. Chapter 7

**IMPORTANT NOTICE: Prior to publishing this chapter, I updated/partially rewrote chapters 1-6. I fixed spelling/grammar errors and some original issues with the uploader. But, there have been three, and only three, major changes. First, I've made the change of replacing the stone being held by a statue in Hikaru's shrine in Chapter 1 with a mask being held by a statue in Hikaru's shrine. Second: In chapter three, I wrote that Jake was wanting to learn to play the shamisen, but I got that confused with another instrument. The instrument I mistook as a shamisen is actually called an erhu, so I corrected that error by changing **_**shamisen **_**to **_**erhu**_**. Third, and finally: I completely removed the segment at the end of the second chapter involving Jake's family because they weren't very well thought out and I felt I couldn't write anything for them in that form. That segment has been removed, and I developed a new version of Jake's family that will work into the story better. They will debut in this chapter. I know you really want to read this new chapter, but I STRONGLY encourage you to reread chapters 1-6 before diving into chapter seven, otherwise you'll be confused around the halfway mark. I know this may be difficult for you, but please understand this, coming from me, that the small changes I've made are for the best. So, go reread 1-6 before starting this chapter. Happy reading!**

**-Frotendo**

**Author's Note: So... I have some unfortunate news regarding Generation Unova (my Pokemon Fanfic). I started writing the first chapter on the third of February and I worked on it continuously, but more halfway through writing, I encountered severe writer's block. I have also not been enjoying Pokemon as much as I used to, which I'd never thought I'd hear myself say. I never touched the document again until the fourteenth of March and tried once more. I didn't like what I had wrote and after overviewing the story as a whole, I decided I wanted to continue putting out quality content and not give you guys half-baked fanfics. So, as much as it hurts me to say this, due to severe writer's block and subsequently a diversion of interest towards something more enjoyable, Generation Unova is officially canceled. I'm truly sorry it had to come to this, but it's just interfering too much with Chosen by Light as well as my free time in general. So I'm going to be focusing my efforts on what I do best, which is writing chapters for this story, and making other stories that are better developed. Don't worry, though. Chosen by Light will continue on for a long time, spanning two full sized arcs and one epilogue mini-arc, so please look forward to it. So, yeah. On a more positive note, I'm back after a long time of releasing nothing, so I hope you enjoy this chapter. It will involve one-on-one time between Jake and Hibari, as well as a Hebijo encounter. You most likely know who it will be before you've even started the chapter, but regardless, it will still be a fun chapter to read. Before we get started, I need to give out the disclaimer:**

**"I do not own Senran Kagura. Senran Kagura belongs to Marvelous AQL and Kenichiro Takagi. I just own my OCs and additional story elements."**

**Now that that's done, we can start! Happy Reading!**

**Chapter 7**

**Teenagers Just Want to Have Fun**

**Hanzo Academy Gym**

**1:17 PM**

Part of being a shinobi is being physically fit to complete missions and assignments, so like any other normal student in high school, it's natural that Hanzo would have a P.E. class for it's six ninjas-in-training. Kiriya is having the girls and Jake run laps around the gym continuously to test their endurance, taking notes while they do so.

"Nice job, class! One more lap!", Kiriya yelled out.

"So, _HAL_? Wanna race to the finish line?", Katsuragi asked Yagyu. "Loser has to buy the winner whatever they want."

"I'm not interested in trivial games such as racing, Senpai. However, I am interested in the stakes. If I win, you'll be buying Hibari's candy for the next month."

"Deal. Let's go!", Kat said as she dashed off, with Yagyu following at equal speeds.

"Always the showoffs, aren't they?", Ikaruga giggled slightly to Asuka, who just nodded her head while they jogged. Jake and Hibari were walking together since Kiriya made the two of them each other's P.E. partner.

"So, Jeiku-kun? Are you doing anything after school today?", Hibari asked.

"Hmm... well, I've been thinking about it a lot, but I was planning on going to the arcade in town since I've never been before. You've said you're into video games, too, right?", he asked back.

"Yup! I am! I've been there a few times, too! ... But, all those times I went, I was by myself. Yagyu-chan doesn't like them, so she doesn't go with me.", Hibari puffed her cheeks in a pouty manner.

"Well then, Hibari, do you wanna go with me after school to the 'cade, then?", he smiled. Hibari's eyes lit up and an even bigger smile than Jake's plastered the pinkette's face.

"Can we get ice cream, too?", she asked.

"Hell yeah, we can get ice cream!", Jake gave a toothy grin.

"Yay! I'll see you later, Jeiku-kun!", Hibari said as she happily skipped ahead to tell Yagyu the news.

"Are you and Hibari going on a date?", Asuka asked the male student with a slight tinge of jealousy in her voice, though Jake did not notice her tone.

"Yeah. Just a play date, though. She's never been to the arcade with someone, and I haven't been to the arcade, period. Tomorrow, big sis Ika-chan's gonna teach me to play the erhu before and after school. On Saturday, me, Kat, and Yagyu were gonna train together through the morning, and for the afternoon, I thought you and me could paint together. Does that work for you?", Jake asked.

Asuka thought about it. Though she secretly wanted Jake for herself, and no one else, she knew that it wouldn't be fair to Jake and the others if she prevented him from mingling, despite secretly promising to protect him after Yami nearly murdered him almost a month ago.

"Yes, that's fine with me.", she smiled. Though she didn't notice, her positive vibes were felt by Jake and he blushed brightly for a brief second before the pigmentation faded away to transition back into his natural skin tone.

"Dammit! I thought me winning the race was a shoe-in for sure!", Katsuragi cursed.

"Pony up, Katsuragi-san.", Yagyu requested while holding out her hand awaiting Kat's allowance.

"There goes my ramen money for the month.", the blonde lamented while her head drooped and her shoulders slumped after she had handed the money to her Kouhai.

"Yagyu-chan! Yagyu-chan!", Hibari called out as she ran towards the silver-haired girl.

"What is it, Hibari?", she asked.

"I just wanna tell you that me and Jeiku-kun were gonna go to the arcade and ice cream shop after school!"

Yagyu just stayed silent while she gripped the wad of cash she was going to use to buy Hibari a toy plushie and candy with.

"... Sounds great. Have fun, and be safe.", Yagyu said as she forced herself to convincingly smile.

"Thank you, Yagyu-chan!", Hibari replied.

"Alright. Good work, class!", Kiriya congratulated. "School's letting out in twenty minutes, so go shower, get dressed back into your uniforms, and head back to the classroom to await dismissal by the bell."

"Yes, Sensei!", the class replied.

**Twenty minutes later...**

_**Beeeeng-Booong. Booong-Beeeeng.**_

"Ah. There's the bell!", Jake stated.

"Are you ready Jeiku-kun?", Hibari asked the brownish-black-curly-afro-haired boy.

"Yeah! Let's head out!", he replied. As Jake and Hibari were about to leave, Yagyu tapped the male student's shoulder to get his attention.

"What's up?", he asked.

"May I talk to you for a minute? I won't take much of your time."

"Sure."

Jake led Yagyu into his room and closed the door. He motioned her to sit on his bed.

"So, what'd you want to tell me?", Jake asked.

"Do you like Hibari?", Yagyu asked.

"Well, sure, I do. I like all of you guys. I mean, you're not _guys_, but you girls are the people I hang out with most often, so I just call you all _guys_, as in referring to a group of two or more people, regardless of gender.", Jake trailed off.

"No, I mean, do you _like_ Hibari?", she asked again, putting emphasis on the word like.

"What do you mean?"

Yagyu just raised an eyebrow at him.

"Oh! Oh, no. I do not.", he answered quickly. "But there are some people I _do _feel that way towards."

"Who?", Yagyu was curious as to who he secretly liked. Jake leaned in close and whispered something in her ear.

"... Oh! Well, I guess I can see why you like those three.", Yagyu smiled.

"Yeah. Although I wish Blondie wouldn't be so damn grabby and show a different, more sensitive side of herself to me, though it wouldn't hurt if she acted like that around everyone else..", Jake chuckled. "But don't worry. I know that you feel _that way_ towards Hibari."

This caught Yagyu off guard.

**"How did he know?"**, Yagyu asked herself in her head. **"How long has he known?"**

"N-no I don't! What makes you think I'm in love with Hibari?", Yagyu stammered while her face became bright red, trying to hide the truth despite it being obvious for him that he knows otherwise.

"Don't bother denying, Yagyu-chan. I've seen how you act around her. I think you two would look great as a couple, anyway.", Jake smiled warmly at his Kouhai.

"But I don't want to ruin what me and her already have together.", Yagyu uncharacteristically looked downtrodden all of a sudden.

"That's one of the risks you'll have to make when you're in love, Yagyu. But you'll eventually know how to tell her how you feel, when the time is right."

"I guess you're right.", the girl admitted.

"When have I not been?", Jake asked with a coy smile. Yagyu just gave a small smile back at him, something that is rarely witnessed from her.

"Jake, may I experience something with you, just this once?"

"What is it that you want to experience?", Jake asked curiously.

"Well... I've never kissed anyone before, but I wanted you to be my first kiss as well as my only guy kiss...", Yagyu looked away as she said this.

"...", Jake just stayed silent, looking absolutely bewildered at Yagyu's request.

"I'm sorry I asked that from you, Jake. I'll leave so you and Hibari can get going to the arcade.", Yagyu got up, now wanting to leave quite badly.

"Wait, Yagyu.", Jake called out as she turned around upon hearing her name.

"If it's just a non-romantic kiss and it means that much to you, I'll let you be my first kiss, and me yours.", he looked at the silver-haired girl with slightly rosy cheeks. Yagyu walked up to him sat him down on his bed and herself on his lap so her face could reach his easier. They were inches apart, and both of them could feel each other's breath on their faces.

"Are you ready?", she asked.

"Just don't make me regret doing this.", he responded with a nervous chuckle. They both proceeded to pull their faces closer before eventually locking lips. Both of their tongues wrestled against the other's in a fight for dominance as they both tasted each other's mouths. Sparks ran through their bodies as they passionately made out with each other. Without his knowledge, Jake's hand unconsciously reached for Yagyu's breasts and began to gently massage them. Yagyu perked up upon experiencing the soft groping sensation, and leaned back from Jake. Jake opened his eyes and they widened when he saw his hand gently gripping Yagyu's left boob.

"Ahh! I'm so sorry, Yagyu! I didn't mean to do that!", he blushed heavily as he hastily removed his hand.

"It's alright, Jake."

"Huh?"

"Katsuragi isn't very good at that. When she has been able to do that, she did it way too roughly. You're being rather gentle, something I did not expect from a sixteen-year-old boy, you're not hurting me, and it feels quite nice, so I'll allow it, just this once."

"Oh, okay then...", Jake said as he resumed fondling Yagyu's breasts, enjoying their soft, bouncy texture due to their large size. Not content with fondling over the clothes, Jake unbuttoned her shirt and let his fingers creep under her bra as began to tease her bare ni...

**Lol, nope. Just kidding! The above scenario with Yagyu asking Jake for a kiss and then passionately making out with each other didn't actually happen in the story. I thought it would be funny to be a troll by putting in a non-canon make-out scene.**

**Happy early April Fools!**

**\- Frotendo**

**Picking up from earlier, here's how it actually went...**

"That's one of the risks you'll have to take when you're in love, Yagyu. But you'll eventually know how to tell her how you feel, when the time is right."

"I guess you're right.", the girl admitted.

"When have I not been?", Jake asked with a coy smile. Yagyu just gave a small smile back at him, something that is rarely witnessed from her.

"Thank you, Senpai.", Yagyu said as she bowed to Jake.

"Anytime, Yaggie.", Jake acknowledged as he and Yagyu stepped out of his room back into the hallway where Hibari was patiently waiting.

"Ready to go play video games and eat ice cream, Hibari?", Jake asked the pinkette.

"Yup!"

"Have fun, you two.", Yagyu smiled **(this time genuinely and not forced)** towards her classmates.

_**"Bring your guitar..."**_, an unknown voice called out to Jake.

"Huh?"

"What is it, Jeiku-kun?", Hibari asked.

"Oh, it's nothing, Hibari.", Jake smiled. He suddenly saw an image in his head of a group of students consisting of two punks as well as what looked like the town girls from a few months ago laughing at him and Hibari. Was it a vision? Should he take his guitar with him like the voice told him to? Jake wanted to ignore it but ultimately, he couldn't as he made his way back into his room to grab his electric guitar and guitar case from inside, before he came out again carrying his guitar case on his back before he and Hibari finally left.

**Kagurazaka Shopping District**

**Asakusa Town Arcade**

**2:23 PM**

Jake and Hibari made it to the arcade and Jake began looking at all of the games that were available to play as he handed Hibari around 1000 yen to pay for their tokens.

**"Wow, they've got everything here! House of the Dead, Mario Kart GP, Street Fighter, Space Harrier, DDR, Galaga, Donkey Kong..."**, Jake thought to himself excitedly. **"They've even got western games like The Simpsons Arcade, Guitar Hero, and MJ's Moonwalker."**

Jake looked to the side to see a much less populated area of the establishment when a cabinet in a barely lit corner caught his eye.

**"Oh my god. **_**They **_**have a custom built Scott Pilgrim Arcade Machine in that dusty corner over there! I've got to show that to Hibari!"**

"What game do you want to play first, Jeiku-kun?", Hibari asked as she came back with a handful of tokens.

"I've already got many ideas, but why don't you pick, then I'll pick after you.", Jake responded politely, wanting to be a gentleman by letting Hibari pick the first game.

"Hmm... How about Mario Kart?", she suggested.

"Sure. Sounds fun!"

**Later...**

Jake and Hibari ended up playing a lot of games at the arcade, and although Jake won a few, Hibari won the majority of the games they played together, leading Jake to state that Hibari is naturally better than he is at their shared hobby. When they went to the Scott Pilgrim Arcade Cabinet, they saw it wasn't plugged in and when Jake asked the manager about it, the latter said that they were going to get rid of it due to its low popularity. Jake offered to buy it from him and they agreed to sell it to him for a reasonable 7500 yen. Jake told the manager he would bring the money and pick it up on Sunday. He and Hibari then made their way to the Guitar Hero game and played together. However, sitting at a table in the food court nearby, a small group of high school students consisting of two boys and three girls, all of which were wearing the Hanzo Emblem crest on their uniforms, walked from where they were sitting to approach the two Hanzo Shinobi students.

"Hehe, that was fun, Hibari!", Jake grinned towards the bubblegum-haired girl, who smiled back.

"Yup! Do you want to get ice cream now?", Hibari asked.

"Yeah. I can't wait to get some cookie dough flavored ice cream.", Jake responded.

"Hibari is gonna get a sundae!", she stated happily.

"Since when do you refer to yourself in the third-person perspective, Hibari?", Jake asked.

"Hibari doesn't understand what Jeiku-kun is saying...", she sported a confused look on her face, which, combined with what she said, just ended up causing Jake to laugh.

"Don't worry about it.", he said. As Jake was about to grab his guitar case, which had been propped up next to the machine, he saw a group of people approaching him and Hibari. There were two guys and three girls, who Jake recognized as his old classmates because of the Hanzo crest on all five of their uniforms.

"Yo, Gaijin! Where'd you learn to play Guitar Hero like that?", one of the boys asked mockingly.

"He sucked really bad at it just now. He's probably never played before. Or he could just be stupid.", one of the girls taunted.

"Jeiku-kun, those people are mean to you, too?", Hibari asked with a scared look on her face.

"What do you mean, Hibari? They pick on you as well?!", Jake suddenly had an angry look on his face, but it was directed towards the group.

"Enough with the foreplay, _Jacque_. What do you want from us, and why have you been picking on Hibari?", Jake asked with a tinge of hostility.

"You're in our hangout right now, and Pinky right here made a fool out of us a couple of months ago for upstaging us at Street Fighter, so we've been taking her tokens from her as compensation to us ever since.", the other boy replied. It took a huge amount of restraint on Jake's part to not waterbend the soda out their cups and into their faces, but he couldn't risk revealing his shinobi identity to them, and he also had to set a good example for Hibari to follow as is his duty of being her upperclassman.

"Ew, you still go to Hanzomon? I thought you switched to a different school or went back to America when you didn't show up to class anymore. Why don't you and your girlfriend just get your loser asses out of here and don't come back?", another one of the girls ordered. The rest of them laughed while Jake just seethed at them.

"Jake, maybe we should just go...", Hibari suggested. Jake suddenly remembered the voice that told him to bring his guitar as well as the vision he had a couple of hours ago. He then looked towards the Guitar Hero machine and saw his guitar propped up to the side hidden from everyone's view except for his own. He then smiled contently as an idea clicked into place.

"No, Hibari. They'll be the ones who leave.", Jake stopped her, before turning towards the group.

"Which one of you is best at _that_?", Jake asked as he pointed towards the Guitar Hero machine.

"I am!", the first boy shouted.

"Fine, then. I challenge you to a Guitar Battle!", Jake declared. "If I win, all of you will apologize to me and Hibari, replace all of the tokens you took from her, and never pick on anybody who comes here to enjoy themselves ever again. If I lose, I'll move back to America and never come back."

"Deal!", the group agreed.

"Jeiku-kun! Don't do this! Don't leave Hibari and Hibari's sisters forever!", Hibari was now bawling and had attached her arms around Jake as tight as she could, refusing to let go.

"Don't worry, Hibari. I'm not going anywhere. I've got this in the bag.", Jake whispered to her as he wiped her tears away.

"But... you admitted yourself that you're bad at Guitar Hero! How are you going to win?", she asked in between sobs.

"You let me worry about that. You just watch me and think about all the ice cream we'll eat after this is over.", Jake assured her as Hibari allowed him to walk over to the arcade machine where his challenger was waiting, as well as the crowd that the rest of the group as well as other patrons were forming around the machine.

"We'll be doing single player mode, any difficulty, any song. You'll go first and I'll go afterwards. I'll even pay for your token.", Jake explained as he handed the jock the required amount of tokens.

"Make a fool out of him, Ogesa-kun!", one of the girls shouted.

"Alright, I choose hard mode, and _Through the Fire &amp; Flames_ by DragonForce as the song of choice!", Ogesa declared.

As everyone looked at the screen of the GH machine, various colored buttons &amp; bars rolled down vertically from the top of the screen, vanishing when Ogesa pushed the corresponding button once it reached the highlighted area to the rythym of the song. It quickly became much more complicated, due to having to press five different colored buttons, not to mention the switch-like button that imitated the strumming of a guitar for each note, but Ogesa played on for a few good minutes only missing a couple of notes before he finished the song. He turned around with a smug grin on his face. Most of the gathered crowd stayed silent, but of course, Ogesa's lackey and fangirls congratulated him in an obnoxious manner. Jake was just thankful that his opponent chose the edited-for-length version of his song, since the normal version is well near eight or more minutes long. Ogesa turned to Jake and gave him a shit-eating grin.

"Beat that, _Jake-off_!", Ogesa taunted. Hibari wasn't sure on how Jake was going to beat him, but Jake remained unfazed.

"Alright, I guess I'm up, now...", Jake said as he turned around and walked next to the machine and reached behind it.

"What is he doing?", one of the girls in Ogesa's clique asked. Her question was soon answered when Jake pulled out his candy red electric guitar for everyone to see.

"Whoa, whoa, whoa! What the hell is this?! Get up on the Guitar Hero machine!" Ogesa yelled in surprise and visible anger.

"Weren't you paying attention? I challenged you to a _**Guitar**_ Battle. That means you can use one of five different guitars- an Acoustic, Bass, or Electric guitar, as well as a Ukelele or a plastic guitar controller.", Jake informed them with a glint in his eyes.

"No fair! I'm calling disqualification on that!", one of the valley girls stated, only earning a "Yeah!" from Ogesa and the rest of their group, while everyone else in the crowd booed at this. Meanwhile, the manager of the arcade had been brought out by an employee to see the spectacle that was taking place so that the former could deal with it.

"Sir, the boy who wants to buy that old cabinet is attempting to play his guitar in here.", the employee informed in a monotone dialect.

"That boy is gonna cause a disturbance in here if I let him play that damned guitar in my establishment! He needs to be stopped!", the manager huffed angrily as he began to make his way over to the crowd, before being stopped by a middle-aged man in a sushi chef's outfit.

"Oh, Hiro. What brings you here?", the manager asked.

"That boy is Jake. He's one of my part-time employees at my restaurant, and he's a good kid.", Hiro informed.

"I don't care who he is, and I don't care that he made a business proposition with me! He's causing a commotion!"

"No, Kenta, you are mistaken. Those spoiled kids are the ones causing a commotion. They've been irritating my patrons at The Cherry Blossom whenever they dine there, and they seem to be physically and verbally harassing, some might even say outright bullying a lot of your customers here, Jake and Hibari especially. I barred them from coming back to my sushi bar again for the sake of my other customers' safety and enjoyment. You should have done the same here, but you didn't, and many good children have paid the price of your negligence. If you and your employees won't be heroes to them, then Jake and Hibari will."

As Hiro left, Kenta was filled with guilt about what the former spoke to him about. How many customers did he lose because of Ogesa and his cronies, and how many more will he lose if he continues to allow his customers to be scared off?

"Shall I call the police and have them deal with this, sir?", the employee asked.

"No. If he plays, turn down the music playing on the speakers so as to assist him.", Kenta replied.

"Yes, sir.", the employee replied.

Back at the GH machine, Ogesa was having a one-sided argument with Jake over the rules of the challenge until a girl in the crowd spoke up.

"Well, he did, like, technically say _**Guitar**_ Battle, fer shuh. I think it was this guy's fault for not understanding the intricacies in that.", the girl said matter-of-factly. Everyone turned to look at this girl that had spoken up. From what Jake could see, she had dirty blonde hair **(the shade, not blonde hair that is actually dirty)**, had scarlet irises, a beauty mark on her lower right cheek, was wearing a grey schoolgirl uniform that looked like a winter coat with a small skirt, a noticeably large bust, and Jake could assume she was the same year as Yagyu and Hibari, but he knew that she didn't go to Hanzo, her uniform already gave that away. Everyone else **(sans Ogesa's group)** ended up agreeing with the girl since they wanted to see Jake give Ogesa his comeuppance, due to most of them having been victims of ridicule or extortion from him and his clique.

"Thank you... uh... um... I didn't catch your name.", Jake laughed sheepishly at his failed attempt of thanking this girl.

"Call me Shiki.", she said.

"Thank you, Shiki.", Jake said back. Hibari brought up a chair for Jake to sit on by the GH cabinet, and he sat down as he adjusted his guitar strings.

"Okay, for my song, I choose Aerodynamic by Daft Punk as my song of choice, with _not having had a lot of practice with this song _as my difficulty setting.", Jake declared. Hibari was confident he would win, but became slightly worried again at the last part of his declaration. Jake noticed that all of the lights in the arcade except for the ones directly above him had been dimmed, and the only noise he could hear were the distant sounds of arcade title screens and the slight breeze of the air conditioning. He saw Hiro standing by the entrance giving him a thumbs up. Jake grinned back as he took a deep breath and as he exhaled, he began to play the guitar. He played the song, feeling the life force that is music extend from his fingers into his entire body. Everyone in the audience was in bewilderment at how skilled Jake was in his talent. His fingers glided across the neck of the guitar as if they were figure skaters dancing on ice, the crowd enraptured by the sound of the heated but soothing melody emitting from the amp on the floor. As Jake played on, the crowd cheered him on, while Hibari had a huge smile on her face from watching Jake. Ogesa was pale as a ghost from witnessing this spectacle, his lackey and fangirls looking equally drained of pigmentation. Jake then began playing the song's infamous guitar solo to perfection. Strobe lights were activated in the arcade, courtesy of the employees, which only fueled the hype for Jake even more. Meanwhile, Kenta was calling someone on his cell phone, hoping this person would answer.

"Hello? Mr. Bangalter? It's Kenta, Leiji's brother. You know how you've been looking for a new protégé to mentor? No? Oh, okay...", Kenta hung up his phone.

**Back to the Future cliche subverted**

As Jake finished playing the song, Hibari, Shiki, Hiro, and the rest of the crowd cheered loudly while Jake looked over to Ogesa and company, who still couldn't believe they lost in terms of skill and majority vote. They still weren't going to apologize or reimburse the tokens they had taken from Hibari, even though they lost. Jake looked at the crowd carefully before speaking.

"I'm only gonna say this once to you five: **get out.**", Jake's eyes glowed light blue for a brief second while he said this. Ogesa and his group turned heel and ran out of the arcade while a good portion of the crowd chased after them angrily. The rest of the crowd dispersed from the area to continue playing games, now free of having to worry about bullies anymore in their safe haven. Jake got up from his chair as he put his guitar and amp into their cases. Once he finished, he turned around, only to have a pink blur tackle him to the ground and nuzzle it's cheek affectionately into his own.

"Yaaay! Jeiku-kun won! Jeiku-kun won! Hibari is happy for Jeiku-kun!"

"Hibari, you're nuzzling too hard.", Jake grunted while attempting to breathe. Hibari got up and helped Jake to his feet.

"Sorry, Hibari can't help being happy! Now those mean old bullies won't mess with anyone ever again!", the pinkette defended.

"Yo, Jake! Hibari!", Shiki called out. "Can I get a selfie with you two?"

"Sure! Thanks for your help earlier, by the way!", Jake said.

"Fer shuh. Those five have been copying me and my friends' style and then acting like total losers by picking on everyone they meet. Me and my friends are, like, nice people, but we end up looking bad because those people are dressing like us and being jerks to others, and people assume we're just like them.", Shiki explained.

"That is no bueno on their part.", Jake agreed.

"Thank you for sticking up for us, Shiki-chan!", Hibari smiled happily.

"You're welcome. Everyone say _butter_!", Shiki said as she took a selfie of the three of them.

"Actually, Shiki, you're supposed to say _cheese_.", Jake deadpanned.

"Whoops, sorry!", Shiki apologized in a comical manner. "Thanks for the pic! Later!"

Shiki ran off to the food court to join her friends who had taken back their table that Ogesa's group had took months prior as they allowed a shy looking girl who seemed to be by herself to join them.

"Let's go take a bathroom break, and then we'll get ice cream afterwards.", Jake suggested to Hibari.

"But I don't have to go right now."

"Well, then try to go anyways so you don't have to later. Then you'll have more time to eat ice cream without having to stop to go potty during it. I'll wait for you outside the bathrooms once I'm done going pee.", Jake told her.

"Okay, Jeiku-kun!", Hibari chimed before leaving to the women's bathroom.

**"Hehe... she acts just like Caitlin did when we were little. Sis, I hope you and Mom are doing alright back in California."**, Jake thought to himself before heading inside the men's restroom to urinate.

**Meanwhile, back in The States...**

Back in California, it was very early in the morning, still a few hours before the sun would rise. Inside the office of a San Francisco police station, an officer was having a discussion with two females. One of them was a mother with curly, light brown hair that reached below her neck, and chocolate-colored eyes, wearing a long-sleeved lime-green turtleneck sweater with the sleeves pulled back to her elbows and a pink miniskirt with matching pink heel pumps. The other was a reasonably sleepy-looking teenaged girl with wavy blonde hair that reached to her waist, with a bang partially covering her right eye, the rest being held back by a rose-shaped hair clip. She had violet-colored eyes, red-rimmed glasses, and was wearing a long sleeved purple turtleneck sweater similar to her mother's, as well as a short red skirt and black leather cowgirl boots.

"So, Mrs. Forest...", the officer greeted the older woman.

"Please... call me Luciana, or Ms. Forest. I feel it's no longer necessary to call me Mrs. Forest. Not after what happened...", Luciana tried her best to smile, but couldn't help looking slightly gloomy for a brief second.

"I'm sorry for your loss, Ma'am.", the officer stated with respect. "But moving on... in the past few weeks, there have been numerous attempts to murder both you and your daughter by an unknown assailant. This has resulted in heavy damage to public property as well as the lives of five people being lost in the wake of the destruction. Frankly, I'm stumped as to the identity of who or what is trying to kill you, seeing as testimonials from you, your daughter, numerous bystanders, and even our own officers, rookie and veteran alike, reported witnessing a quote-on-quote _Shadow Monster_ at the scene of each incident, and none of the witnesses, including you two, have any prior signs or had a diagnosis of any mental illness, and the polygraph tests did not detect any lies coming from any of you, even when run through multiple times and checked to make sure they were set up and conducted properly. The situation of a supposed creature attempting to murder two specific individuals who are of blood relation is something that our city or police force has never had to deal with in it's near-200 year existence."

"What do you think we should do?", Luciana asked.

"Given the situation, I'd suggest placing you two in the witness protection program and getting as far away from the threat as possible."

"Maybe Canada would work?", Luciana suggested.

"I wouldn't recommend it. The best possible solution would be to leave the entire continent altogether, but as to where you want to go, I'll leave it up to you two. I'll give you ten minutes to decide, because time is of essence, and we need to relocate you two ASAP.", the officer turned around to leave to give the two ladies some alone time.

"Oh, Daniel, how I wish you were still here right now. You'd know what to do.", Luciana lamented.

"Mom, I miss Dad, too. But he wouldn't want to see you unhappy like this, and neither would Jake if he were here to see you right now.", the blonde teenager spoke to comfort her mother.

"You're right, Caitlin. I should have a more positive outlook on this.", Luciana began to smile while wiping a tear.

"Oh! Mom, maybe we should go to where Jake is for this relocation program.", Caitlin suggested. "He wrote you and me letters about how his school is quite nice and he has a decent amount of friends. We could move into town, you could get a job, and me and Jake will be going to the same school again. Jake said he even has special connections to the principal, he might be able to get you a job as a school secretary."

"I don't know, honey... Jake moved away to pursue his dream career. I don't think he wants us bothering him, again.", Luciana stated.

"Can we go to Japan, please? Jake really misses us, I miss my big brother, and I know you miss your son.", Caitlin was now holding her hands together begging, her violet irises becoming wider and more adorable the longer her mother didn't answer. Luciana couldn't help giggling at watching her daughter give her puppy-dog eyes, and she knew that they both wanted this, so there was no other logical choice.

"Well, I do miss my cute little Jakey-bear. Alright, we'll tell the officer of our decision when he gets back. When we get home, pack all of your clothes, undergarments, a couple of swimsuits, and whatever else you want to take with you.", the older woman smiled.

"Thank you, Mom! I love you!", Caitlin hugged Luciana tightly.

"I love you, too, my little Kitty-Caitlin.", Luciana said back with the rosy cheeks a mother gets while holding their offspring in their arms. "Your brother's going to be in for a surprise when we arrive in Japan."

**Back with Jake &amp; Hibari...**

Jake and Hibari had gotten ice cream from the local candy store. Jake got cookie dough flavor and Hibari got an old-fashioned sundae. After they ate, they began to walk home, not knowing that they were being tailed.

"Did you have fun, Hibari?", Jake asked.

"Yup! Hibari had lots of fun with Jeiku-kun! The ice cream was yummy, too! Thank you for taking me with you!", Hibari replied.

"Hehe. You're welcome.", Jake replied. Rain began to drizzle from the sky moments later, getting the two Hanzo shinobi wet **(with water)**.

"That's weird. It's not supposed to be raining today. The forecast called for sunny skies.", Jake mused.

"Waaah! Hibari is covered in water!", the pink-haired girl cried. Jake immediately raised his hand to the sky, and the oncoming water traveled away from him and Hibari, as if there was a glass dome protecting them from becoming drenched any further.

"When we get home, I'll waterbend the water out of your clothes so they'll be dry again.", Jake told her.

"You'll have to wait a while before you do that, Handsome.", a sultry voice called out. Jake and Hibari turned around to see an older teenager with light brown hair with curled ends, a pink bow, a pink &amp; white getup that looked like a garter belt with a diamond-shaped hole, revealing the girl's massive cleavage in the process. She was also wearing white thigh-high stockings, white fingerless gloves that reached above her elbows, pink heel pumps, and a white lab coat filled with what looked like various potions and chemicals. It was Haruka, one of the girls from Homura's group at the hot springs and the Hebijo elite Jake was least hoping to encounter.

"Ack! Not you! Why couldn't it have been Yomi?", Jake bemoaned.

"Geez, you really know how to make a woman feel loved.", Haruka said sarcastically.

"Haruka-sama, what are you doing here?", Hibari asked.

"Simple. I've come to make you two into my precious little dollies. You'll be joining these five right here.", Haruka motioned behind her as Ogesa and his group approached from behind, though their eyes were dull looking and appeared to overall look lifeless, like they were under mind control.

"I can't believe you'd do something like that!", Jake gritted his teeth in anger. "I mean sure, those five were nothing but a bunch of bitches and douchebags, but they don't deserve to have this happen to them! Let them go!"

"What? I'd have thought you wanted them to get nothing but the worst when they picked on you for so long.", Haruka said, trying to pretend to be sympathetic.

"Well, you're wrong, and how do you know about that?", Jake asked.

"Simple. Since their now under my control, I have access to all of their previous memories, including the ones of them bullying you and this girl here.", Haruka explained.

"Well, we're not gonna let them stay like this!", Jake declared. "Shinobi Transformation!"

Jake and Hibari both activated their ninja turnovers, prepared to fight.

"If you insist.", Haruka sighed. Jake drew in water from the still-pouring rain to make five extra water clones to restrain Ogesa and company while the real Jake and Hibari fought Haruka.

"I believe you're late for potions class, Mr. Potter.", Haruka said as she tossed several explosive vials at Jake and Hibari, both of whom nimbly and barely dodged the attack.

"That gag sucked!", Jake shouted as he shot a spider-web at Haruka, who just dodged out of the way.

"Not as much as what I'm about to do to you.", the pink-bowed vixen said quietly. Jake shot web strings at Haruka's feet and pulled hard, making the latter fall backwards. As Jake came charging towards her while readying a muscle-packed punch, Haruka shot her hand out, as glowing strings shot from her fingertips and attached to specific areas of Jake's body. She jumped into the air and partway through transitioned into a front flip. The strings followed their owner's momentum as Jake was pulled from where he was, hauled into the air, and flung into the wall of a concrete building nearby.

"Jeiku-kun!", Hibari cried out as she watched his limp body fall to the ground. With Jake barely conscious and his focus broken, his water clones dissipated, allowing the still under mind control Ogesa and crew to successfully restrain a distracted Hibari from behind. While Hibari struggled to free herself from the five-man embargo, Haruka propped up Jake next to the building, resting his back on the wall. Jake was unable to move his body to fight, having become weak from the battering of being thrown into a concrete building.

"What... are you... doing?", Jake asked.

"Giving you a special kiss, my love...", Haruka smiled maliciously. "It's my Secret Ninja Art- The Kiss of Death."

"No...!", Jake's eyes widened.

"No! Jeiku-Kun!", Hibari struggled even harder to free herself, slowly started to waddle over to where Jake was while Ogesa and his clique mindlessly stayed latched onto Hibari's arms and legs in an attempt to make her movements more sluggish.

"Don't worry, it won't hurt... much.", Haruka said as she drew her lips closer to Jake's.

"NO!", Hibari shook her arm free and attempted to reach her arm out to Jake. A pink lightning bolt shot from her hand and it's sheer force launched Haruka away from Jake. The bolt bounced onto the ground and, as Hibari and Jake watched, it shaped itself into a solid form: a pink cartoon rabbit with a kanji tatooed on its forehead, a red scarf, no nose, grumpy anime eyes, and a small smiling mouth with rabbit teeth sticking out.

"Ninto! You're real! I can't believe you're here!", Hibari exclaimed while smiling.

"Good thing Curly-Mop right here nearly getting a death smooch allowed you to summon me in reality finally, eh?", the rabbit now known as Ninto spoke.

"Ugh... what in the world was that?", Haruka asked as she stood up.

"That's your first taste of an ass-kicking from me and Hibari, ya no-good broad!", Ninto yelled.

"Hey, Rabbit, or Nintendo... whatever your name is. What's up with the _**Joisey**_ accent?", Jake asked.

"Nun."

"What about nuns?"

"Nun-ya facking business, that's what!"

"Enough with the arguing, Guido Rodent. Go help Hibari with Miss Piggy over there.", Jake ordered.

"Fine. Hibari, I'm givin' you a piggyback ride.", Ninto told the pinkette.

"Yay! Niiintoooo! Let's go!", Hibari jumped on the now cloud-bodied Ninpo summon as both of them rocketed towards Haruka at high-speeds. Haruka was so distracted by how esoteric this whole situation was, that she forgot to move out of the wave as Hibari and Ninto made full electrical impact with her. Haruka flew onto the ground as a dark energy was expelled from Ogesa and his friends, resulting in them being freed from Haruka's influence. Haruka got up off of the ground and glared at Hibari, Ninto, and the now recovered Jake.

"I think I've had my fill on playing with my dolls for today. We'll meet again soon enough.", Haruka bid goodbye as she vanished, leaving Jake, Hibari, and Ninto alone with the stirring bodies of Ogesa's group. The rain had also stopped falling, and the sky showed the sun setting.

"Thanks for the save back there, you two.", Jake smiled.

"Hibari is glad that Jeiku-Kun is safe.", Hibari smiled.

"That speech pattern of yours is never gonna get old.", Jake grinned. "How were you able to summon Ninto?"

"Hibari didn't have a lot of friends when Hibari was little. Ninto was Hibari's imaginary friend, and Hibari would talk to Ninto when Hibari was lonely. When you were about to be killed by Haruka-sama, Hibari wished for someone to help, and Ninto came to your rescue.", Hibari explained.

"Thanks for that, Ninto.", Jake kneeled down to shake the rabbit's paw.

"No prob, Lanky.", Ninto said back.

"Watch it, bub."

"Whatever.", Ninto stuck his tongue out before disappearing in a puff of smoke. Jake and Hibari turned around to see Ogesa and his friends waking up. Ogesa walked up to Jake and Hibari and shook their hands.

"You saved us from that girl. We were able to see everything that happened even though we couldn't control our bodies. Thank you.", Ogesa said. "And I'm really sorry about how mean I treated you. It was wrong of me to do that."

"Ogesa, it takes a lot of guts to man up and apologize for all of the stupid shit you did. But you should be apologizing to Hiro, everyone at the arcade, but most of all, to Hibari. She's the one who rescued you.", Jake motioned to Hibari, who just smiled at Ogesa.

"We should all hang out again sometime!", Hibari said while grinning.

"That sounds like fun!", one of the valley girls stated. Everyone else nodded in agreement.

"Are you two, like, superheroes, or something?", another girl asked.

"Yeah, let's go with that. But you know what the rule of secret identities is, right?", Jake asked back.

"Of course. Our lips are sealed.", Ogesa smiled while making a zipping motion across his mouth with his hand.

"Good, because we're technically supposed to erase everything you saw from your memories, but if if you can keep that promise, we won't tell our superior about your knowledge of or involvement in all of this. Besides, I think this ordeal has changed you five for the better."

"Jeiku-kun, we should get back. It's almost nighttime.", Hibari informed him.

"We'll see you around!", Jake said as he and Hibari began to leave.

"You too!", Ogesa said back. Once Jake and Hibari were gone, he turned to his group and spoke.

"Everyone, we need to rethink our lives and improve on the choices we make. We've been given a second chance, and we all need to make it count if we want to be truly cool Hanzo students like Jake and Hibari. So, starting tomorrow, let's do our best!", Ogesa explained.

"Yeah!"

**Hanzo Elite Kitchen**

**5:46 PM**

Asuka, Katsuragi, Ikaruga, and an impatient-looking Yagyu were eating dinner in the kitchen when Jake and Hibari arrived to eat dinner.

"Where have you two been?", Ikaruga inquired.

"Uh, we were heading home from the ice cream shop almost almost an hour ago, but we got sidetracked.", Jake admitted.

"How is that?", Yagyu asked.

"We had another Hebijo encounter on the way home. We fought Haruka, nearly lost, and I would have been dead if Hibari hadn't unlocked her Ninpo summon at the last minute.", Jake explained.

"You seemed to go down rather easily, Jake. How is that possible?", Ikaruga asked.

"Haruka used some weird ninjutsu I've never seen before. Strings of energy shot from her fingertips onto my body, and she was able toss me around like a marionette. She also had some normal Hanzo students under mind control, who, after Hibari freed, had their memories of what transpired wiped by me.", Jake responded.

"It sounds like Haruka is a master of puppetry ninjutsu. That is quite dangerous. Well, good on you for winning your battle and following protocol.", Ikaruga smiled.

"Oh! Jake! What did you and Hibari do before the Hebijo attacked?", Asuka asked him.

"I'll invite you all to my room after dinner to tell you, but right now I'm just plain hungry. Nearly getting killed by a succubus can do that.", Jake said as he chomped on a futomaki roll Asuka had made.

"Did you have fun, Hibari?", Yagyu asked the pinkette.

"Yup! Me and Jeiku-kun had a lot of fun today, and I unlocked my Ninpo summon!", Hibari replied.

"Congratulations, Hibari. I'm proud of you, and I'm glad you had fun.", Yagyu smiled.

"So, Jake, I'm assuming you'll take me somewhere with you next time?", Katsuragi asked as she pulled him close to allow her to rub her breasts on his shoulder.

"Nonsense. Jake and I are going to practice playing the erhu tomorrow, now that he has finally acquired one.", Ikaruga corrected while doing the same as Katsuragi to Jake's other shoulder.

"No. Jake's gonna paint with me, and you two will have to deal with that!", Asuka pouted toward both of her Senpai as she anchored her arms around Jake's torso, who just blushed heavily at the sensation of Asuka's breasts pressing on his chest.

"Hey! Freshmen! Help me out here!", Jake called out to Yagyu and Hibari, hoping that they'll get him out of this compromising position.

"Nah. I'm sure you're fine.", Yagyu smiled.

"Is doggy-piling on Jeiku-kun a new game? Hibari wants to play, too!", Hibari declared as got a running start and was about to tackle into Jake.

"WHY MUST YOU FIVE DO THIS TO MEEEE?!", Jake yelled right before Hibari impacted into him.

**END**

**So, yeah. That was chapter 7. I hope you enjoyed it. I deleted the Chosen by Light Voices Bonus Thingy I published back in February to make room for this. An updated version of that will be posted separately from this story, and as for what I managed to write for Generation Unova's first chapter, I may or may not upload it in it's unaltered form as a one-shot. If I do post it, be warned: it's extremely shitty. As for what I've been up to lately, I've just been geeking out over the reveal and release of Senran Kagura Crossover DLC for Dead or Alive 5: Rehashed Edition and the announcement of Senran Kagura 2 coming to the west (those lucky Europeans get the best limited editions, I don't understand why they complain about games being released later than North America if they're getting better games in general. Physical SK Burst, , Regular New 3ds, Tingle's Rosy Rupee Flavor Flav Cosplayer Land, Doshin the Giant, and PAL version Luigi's Mansion 1 with the Boolossus fight where you get to ride around on the Poltergust 3000, to name the games I'm most envious of.) I've also been reading a lot of Naruto/Legend of Korra crossover fanfiction to cope with both series' ending. Moving onwards, special thanks to the current lovelies: SSS-the-hedgehog-black, Unicorn 359, messaging buddy Zero-Nightmare, who is working on a Senran Kagura/ Soul Calibur Crossover fanfic. Congrats on that! :D, ThaviduZeroX, dad90, The Kitsune Saiyan, MrSpartan3398, Fear Ripper, AnimeFanfic4Ever, Shadowlink223, Angel of Light darkness, TYZO300, deus-rasengan2, HerculesPoirot, DragonxNegima2, Junichiro Nakashima, GreyMan19, Skies-of-Total-Darkness, Trollolol LOL, Pax Guy, Senran LOVAH, RiderKnight 001, Centurious The Azure, Kaizero6, Nazo-XXX, lorenzo52lara, Orex1995, Quanokark42, DudeFromAcrossYourStreet, and dillmccathron! Your support for this story is greatly appreciated! If you want to favorite, follow, share this story, or whatever, feel free to do so. If not, no worries. You don't have to if you don't want to. See you next time, and have a great day!**


	8. Chapter 8

Author's Note: "It's been much too long. I feel it comin' on. The feeling's getting strong. It's been much too long. I feel it comin' on, the feeling's in my bones. Can you feel it? Hah, can you feel it? At last the long wait is over, the weight is off my shoulders. I'm taking all control, yeah! My! My mind is set so free! I'm where I want to be to get the best of me! Can you feel it? Hah, can you feel it?"- Excerpt from the song "Too Long", by Daft Punk with vocals by Romanthony

FUGGIN' FINALLY! It's extremely overdue, but better VERY late than never. Thanks to those who left reviews for the last chapter as well as for the whole series during it's Nine Month Hiatus. More info on that after the chapter. Anyways, on with the disclaimers:

"I do not own Senran Kagura, or it's characters. Only my OCs and necessary creative leeway on certain foundations. Senran Kagura belongs to Kenichiro Takagi and Marvelous AQL. Please support the official release."

Enjoy the chapter!

Chapter 8

Admission for Two

Monday

Hanzo Academy Training Grounds

6:23 AM

"Dang! Why can't I get this technique down?", Jake asked himself as he failed once more at his so far numerous attempts at performing a new water ninjutsu technique. He was forming a water tendril into the shape of a hand to pick up a large boulder, but every time he tried to lift it up, the water wouldn't maintain a grip and would just rise up with his arm movements, not even budging the rock a little from it's spot. He was also fatigued from the amount of chi required to use the technique each time, as well as becoming thirsty from his exertion. He was even a little tempted to drink the water he was using for training, but he knew that combat water normally shouldn't be consumed, so he decided against it. But he was still exhausted from his efforts, so he decided to rest for the the time being.

"I need a break from this.", Jake sighed as he sat down on a bench by the gate to the shinobi training grounds and began to think. He didn't understand this, as the other day when he and Hibari fought Haruka, Jake's water clones were easily able to envelop their entire bodies around the mind-controlled Ogesa and company, restraining their movements without any problems or requiring his concentration until Haruka had dealt a heavy blow to the real him, which caused the water clones to disperse since his subconscious willpower of maintaining them was broken at that point in the battle. Truth be told, ever since his battle, he's had trouble performing even the lower level ninjutsu and his spine had been hurting as well, like something was wedged inside his back. The kunoichi nurse for the school told him that his spine had no damage done to it and even showed him x-rays of his torso to prove it, but that still didn't make this feeling go away, as he was clearly still thinking about it.

Jake thought it would help to distract himself from his difficulties with training, so he looked back on the activities he did with others during the weekend that he had planned with them prior to his battle with Haruka. Jake recalled Friday, both during before school started and a little after it had ended for the day, Ikaruga had taught him how to use the erhu properly along with some basic melodies. Jake tested his abilities and played improvised songs with his new music equipment, surprising Ikaruga a little, but overall, she was impressed that Jake was playing it in an extremely short amount of time. He had also shown her his other new instrument, which was a talkbox. Ikaruga found it confusing to play at first because of the tube-like mouthpiece, but quickly got the hang of the learning curve of having to sing while matching her volume and tone with the input of a guitar connected to the talkbox, which happened to be Jake's candy-red electric one. Practice sparring on Saturday morning with Katsuragi and Yagyu went well enough, although it was toned down to hand-to-hand combat only with no weapons or ninjutsu involved due to him still recovering from the damage he sustained during his last fight. At first, the two kunoichi were going easy on him, until Jake told them to kick it up a notch and not fight him like they were going up against a pitiful child who had no combat skills, emphasizing his statement by surprising his two classmates with a burst of speed and landing a flurry of jabs on both of them. Even with Jake not able to fight at his top game, Yagyu and Katsuragi learned that they still had to keep on their toes during the mock battle against him to avoid going down, and in the end, all three of them had fought to the point that they were barely able to stand up afterwards. It was decided unanimously that the battle ended in a draw, and Yagyu decided that she would have to train herself to be more skilled in weaponless combat if she wanted to become more versatile in battle against opponents like Jake and Katsuragi.

That afternoon, however, he and Asuka borrowed the empty arts &amp; crafts classroom in the main school for the day, since the normal students weren't there. Asuka painted a landscape portrait of an earthly forest clearing consisting of greens, blues, and browns, the scene complete with a small pond with lilypads near an aged, but sturdy tree. She also made a cartoony self-portrait of herself, as well as her own artistic interpretation of Jake, which in itself was a chibi-face. Meanwhile, Jake had painted a vast cosmic nebula of red and purple amongst a black background dotted with tiny, distant stars. He also made a simple caricature of himself, and painted a realistically detailed portrait of Asuka, an artstyle of which he said was hardly even used by him. They both wrote on the back of their paintings they made of the other before exchanging them once they had dried. After they realized that both of them had paint all over their clothes and faces, Asuka started painting on Jake's face, who began painting on Asuka's face in playful retaliation. When they had come back to the kitchen where the other four were at, all of the visible skin on their bodies had been completely covered in paint of various colors, prompting Katsuragi to call them "The Tie-Dye Shinobi Second-Years". Asuka and Jake admitted that they both needed to spend the rest of their day showering and washing their clothes once they saw each other's appearance. Sunday wasn't as exciting though. Ninja training and Hoodlum Patrol were the orders of that day, not very noteworthy at all.

"My combat skills since that fight may suck, probably even more than they did before, but on the bright side, at least my weekend didn't.", Jake thought warmly.

"Good morning, Jake.", a voice said from behind as the male Hanzo student was lost in thought. Jake heard the voice and turned around to see Asuka with a plate of futomaki rolls and looking at him with a bright smile.

"Hey, Asuka.", Jake greeted back with a small grin.

"I heard you training outside when I woke up, so I decided to get up so that I could join you.", Asuka set the plate of rolls in between herself and the male Hanzo student. Jake eyed at the sushi rolls hungrily as his stomach growled loud enough for it to be audible to both him and Asuka.

"Go ahead.", the brunette smiled with a small giggle. Jake hesitated for a moment before he grabbed a piece of the futomaki and bit into it.

"So, how is the training going?", she asked after Jake swallowed his bite. Jake's smile faltered when he remembered why he had been sour earlier.

"Not good. I haven't been able to perform many techniques since my fight from last week. I've already gotten the water tendril down, and now, I'm trying to do it's more advanced form- the Water Arm.", Jake answered.

"Wow! You've been a shinobi for barely two months now, and you're already learning a really useful water-ninpo technique. That's so cool!"

"Except... I haven't mastered it. I've been having rotten luck with it, because whenever I try lifting one of the boulders with it, the water arm won't grip onto it. I've even tried picking up tiny pebbles with the same technique and I couldn't do that either. They just sink through the palm of the arm's hand and fall to the ground."

Asuka remembered recently when she couldn't quite perform ninjutsu skills Kiriya was teaching, but he, her other classmates, her parents and her grandparents told her not to give up. That gave her the confidence to succeed with the techniques she initially had trouble with. Now, Jake, in turn, her classmate, fellow second-year, and friend was now the one having difficulties in his training, and she wanted to return the favor and help him.

"Well, you shouldn't give up on it. I'm sure you'll master it in no time. So, keep trying, because I know you can do it.", Asuka told him confidently.

"You think so?", Jake asked.

"Yup! You're a great person! You're determined and protective of those that are close to you. I believe in you, and we're all expecting great things from you. And I can say to anyone and everyone that you're one of my best friends as well as my best… friend who is a guy. Although I only just met you a somewhat short while ago, I feel like we've known each other our entire lives. You're like a brother that I never had, and that I could tell you anything and you'd support me.", Asuka gave a smile that caused Jake to turn red in the cheeks as he returned a goofy grin to her. He was amazed and awestruck that Asuka actually said he was one of her best friends. Jake noticed that his face felt hot as well as an odd sensation in his stomach. What was this feeling? Was it normal to have this happen when a friend cared that much for him? He hadn't felt it before, at least, he couldn't remember a time he had felt it, but it made him happy for some reason. He just couldn't think of what it could be at that moment.

"Thanks, Asuka. That means a lot and I feel the same. I consider you and the others to be my best friends, as well as additional sisters. Then again, my younger sister aside, you're the first real friend that I've ever made.", Jake felt the feeling in his stomach intensify, and he felt his eyes begin to water up, but he forced the tears back before Asuka could notice.

"First friend?", Asuka thought, wondering if it meant what she thought it meant. She snapped out of her train of thought when Jake got up from his sitting position and stood.

"Asuka, do you want to fight against me before we get ready for class?", Jake asked as he held out his hand for her to help herself up with. He made eye contact with Asuka, and she noticed his eyes were filled with a spark in them. She looked down at his outstretched hand, before she grabbed it and looked at him with equal determination in her eyes.

"You bet. Let's do this!"

Hanzo Elite Class Homeroom

8:01 AM

Class had just begun, and Kiriya walked into the room which seemed to be empty, but actually, the students were practicing a stealth tactic of concealing their whereabouts until their superior requested that they reveal themselves.

"Alright, class. It's time to take roll-call. Please come sit down when your name is called.", Kiriya spoke to the seemingly deserted classroom as he held a clipboard and pencil.

"Jake Forest.", Kiriya called out. Jake swung upside-down from one of the support beams in the classroom rafters. By concentrating a certain amount of chi into them, both of his feet were able to connect to the ceiling as the rest of his body hung down with Jake's face directly in front of Kiriya's. The silver-haired teacher noticed that Jake's hair wasn't as poofy as normal. In fact, it was hanging down from his head and it looked to be damp. Kiriya's nose also picked up the slight scent of men's body wash.

"Present.", Jake grinned as he dropped down from above and landed on the floor with his body properly aligned.

"Points for proper hygiene and gravitational balance control.", Kiriya gave his only male student a nod of acknowledgement before Jake walked to his seat.

"Yagyu Hamasaki."

The Silverette jumped in the classroom from the window with her umbrella brandished, looking ready to attack.

"Here.", Yagyu stated quietly.

"Points for being on the defensive.", Kiriya complimented, making Yagyu smile smugly for a brief moment while she walked to her seat.

"Asuka Hanzo, where are you?"

Asuka was attempting to be stealthy by silently tiptoeing behind Kiriya, hoping to get over to her seat in between Jake and Ikaruga's own spots without being noticed and making sure that no audible noise was being made by her.

"Nice try, but I can hear the floorboards creaking.", Kiriya said while seeming to be aware that someone was sneaking past him.

"Eeh?! What are you talking about, Master Kiriya? I didn't hear the floorboards cre-!", Asuka squealed, but was interrupted when Kiriya brought the rather sharp pencil he was holding to her neck.

"That was just a bluff, Asuka.", Kiriya frowned at her. "If you hadn't responded to that, I wouldn't have known you were behind me and you could have snuck past. If I were the enemy ninja and you were on an espionage mission and you did what you did just now, you'd be dead. A shinobi must properly think about the possibilities of a situation before they act upon it and perform any type of action. Go take your seat next to Jake.", Kiriya told her sternly.

"Yes, sir...", Asuka replied with a slumped posture as she sat down next to Jake, who did his best to console his fellow second-year.

"Ikaruga Houou."

There was a quick breeze through the air as a blur whooshed by and Ikaruga was seen in her seat quietly cleaning her sword.

"Here.", Ikaruga said calmly.

"Points for you as well, as is expected of the Class Representative.", Kiriya noted as he wrote on the clipboard paper.

"Katsuragi Nara."

*SHHLUUURRRP!*

Everyone looked to where the noise came from to see Katsuragi coming out of the classroom/dorm kitchen eating instant ramen.

"Wuh? Rahmemph's shho guhd!", Katsuragi smiled with a full mouth while she finished slurping up the noodles that were starting to fall out as she spoke.

"Ugh. Please finish your breakfast and take your seat.", Kiriya groaned.

"Breakfast of Champions?", Jake asked Kat with a cheeky grin. Kat swallowed her food before answering.

"You know it!", Katsuragi replied, giving Jake a thumbs up as she sat down next to Ikaruga.

"Katsuragi-san, you are a third-year student. Isn't it about time you start behaving like one?", Ikaruga asked.

"And become a boring, by-the-rules bookworm like you? No thanks, I prefer to have fun!", Katsuragi responded in a joking manner.

"Hey! I- I'll have you know that I am capable of being fun!", the ravenette stammered, feeling her cheeks flare up. She was an entertaining person, right? At least, she hoped so.

"Relax, I'm just trying to get a rise out of you! You're fun to be around, and this is one of those times where it's been proven!", the blonde laughed somewhat evilly while Ikaruga just pouted.

"Alright, you two. You've had your fun.", Kiriya said to get his two third-years to calm down. "And finally, the last student to be called up- Hibari Sukino."

"EEEEP!"

The sound of someone squealing while they were falling was heard as Hibari fell from the rafters onto the floor and landed on her bottom with a thud.

"Owie! That hurt!", Hibari moaned as she rubbed her lower back to soothe the pain she felt there.

"Hibari, did you really have to use the same hiding spot as Jake?", Kiriya asked in slight disappointment.

"Wait a minute! Hibari, I've been up there for the past fifteen minutes. Were you up in the rafters before I hid there?", Jake asked curiously.

"Actually, you were up there first. I went up thinking nobody was there, but when I saw you, you didn't notice me.", Hibari said somewhat gloomily.

"How come I didn't see you or hear you?", Jake inquired.

"I said "Good Morning, Onii-Sama" to you, but you didn't do anything. And after that, I noticed that my eyes had been stinging and you looked right at me, but it felt like you were looking through me, like I wasn't there."

Kiriya then turned towards Hibari with an intrigued look as he caught the sight of her clover pupils dilating for a brief moment, before smirking to himself.

"I see the ocular powers of Kagan are beginning to manifest.", Kiriya thought.

"You mean you can turn invisible, Hibari?! That's awesome! You've learned a new ninja skill!", Jake congratulated his underclassman with a grin. "I can sort of turn invisible with light ninjutsu, but I still leave a shadow and I can't hide any of the sounds I make. With what you're able to do, you'll be giving Ika-chan and Yaggie a run for their money in their own stealth skills."

As Jake finished speaking, Hibari was just smiling as if blissfully unaware of not only that she had even painfully fallen from the rafters mere moments ago, but also of the power of her clan that only Kiriya realized was the cause of her successfully not alerting Jake to her being near him beforehand. Asuka was impressed by and slightly jealous of Hibari, Ikaruga looked somewhat skeptical of the ordeal, but was glad that Hibari's skills appeared to be improving. Yagyu, though she didn't let it show on the outside, didn't know whether Hibari was able to do what she did and be glad for her, or alternatively, be angry that Jake possibly had intentionally ignored Hibari. Katsuragi, after finishing her ramen, had fallen asleep on her desk shortly after Kiriya had told her to settle down and was not awake during Hibari's roll-call.

"Well, maybe there's more than meets the eye with you.", Kiriya said to Hibari as the corners of his mouth briefly curled into a small smile before quickly returning to their neutral position before his students could notice. Hibari just bounded over to her seat next to Yagyu as all of the students were assembled and ready to learn.

"Alright, class. Today, we'll be learning abo-"

SLAM!

Kiriya couldn't finish what he was going to say as the classroom door was blasted off of it's hinges and flew into the wall it was originally facing towards (narrowly missing Kiriya by mere inches). Instinctively, Jake, Asuka, Ikaruga, and Hibari let out a yell, a scream, a gasp, and a squeal, all of which woke up a startled Katsuragi, while Yagyu, although being visibly surprised, remained silent. Almost immediately afterwards, an attractive looking older woman wearing a red Kunoichi uniform with long brown hair tied into a ponytail close to her neck with a hair ribbon, honey colored eyes, and faint lipstick, ran through the doorway and eyed Kiriya.

"Kiriya! We need to speak!", the woman addressed the shinobi instructor.

"Still as reckless as ever, aren't you, Saori?", Kiriya groaned. The woman looked to see the classroom door was now wedged halfway inside the tatami wall on the opposite side of the room.

"Whoops! Guess I got carried away with opening the door!", the now identified Saori smiled as she scratched the back of her head in slight embarrassment. She turned to look at the students and recognized a short-statured girl with medium length brown hair partially tied in a spiky ponytail with a face as red as a tomato.

"Hi, Asuka! Did you miss Mommy?", Saori cooed.

"Mom?! What are you doing here? I thought you were on a mission today. And why did you destroy our door?!, Asuka asked while trying to not raise her voice.

"I am on a mission, Sweetie. As for the door, well…"

"Many years ago, Saori was a student here, just like you six are now. And her breaking the classroom door down was a weekly occurrence. I'd thought in the time since she'd graduated she would have grown out of that, but based on what I've seen just now, apparently old habits die hard.", Kiriya remarked.

"Is that any way to talk about a classmate with higher seniority, Kiriya? I'm hurt! Wounded, even.", Saori said as she wiped away a crocodile tear.

"You were also quite the theatric. Apparently, this class has one for each generation.", Kiriya quipped as he glanced at Katsuragi.

"Anyway, Da-... I mean, the principal has sent me here to tell you about urgent news.", Saori informed.

"Urgent news?", Kiriya repeated with a serious look on his face.

"About both of them. Come with me outside for a minute. He said it's only for you to hear.", Saori said, now wearing an equally serious look on her own face.

"Class, remain seated.", Kiriya said to the girls and Jake as he began walking out into the hallway. Almost everyone stayed in their seats, but Katsuragi crept out of her spot and began following them in hopes of eavesdropping on the two adults. This attempt, however, was dashed quickly.

"That's an order, Katsuragi.", Kiriya stated sternly, not even looking behind him as Kat quickly returned to her seat with a backflip before he stepped in the hallway.

"Asuka-san. That was your mother, correct?", Ikaruga asked curiously.

"Yes.", Asuka replied.

"Would you mind if I elaborated more on your behalf, Asuka?", Jake asked his fellow second-year, earning a nod of affirmation.

"Okay. So, yeah, that was Asuka's mom, Saori-chan. I don't know much, but from what I've heard from Asuka's dad and old man Hanzo, she's famous in her own right for being one of the nation's top kunoichi, and I can attest firsthand that she and Hideo are top notch cooks.", Jake spoke as he remembered the delicious pancakes Asuka's parents had prepared for both of them the morning after he had met Kiriya and Asuka. Although Asuka's mother was a very nice person, he had seen first-hand how powerful and reasonably frightening she could get when angry. Given, when he had seen it, it had never been directed at him, but towards Hanzo for being a lecher at the hot springs some time ago. But he still knew not to ever get on her bad side, especially after she practically demolished one-third of the entire school while she was unleashing her fury out on Asuka's grandfather. Despite that, it was still very entertaining hearing the legendary toad ninja's high-pitched and somewhat womanly screams as Saori chased him throughout the campus that entire night.

"Then she must be an important figure.", Ikaruga concluded.

"Yep.", Jake affirmed.

"Wow! Your mom is really pretty, Asuka-chan!", Hibari complimented.

"Touché! Your mom's smokin' hot, Asuka! Now I know where you got your amazing boobies from!", Katsuragi grinned gleefully while she drooled slightly as her fingers unconsciously twitched from what she was fantasizing about, which the narrator refuses to divulge.

"Not appropriate, Katsuragi-san. But, yes. She seems very nice as well. I'd like to properly meet her one of these days.", Ikaruga smiled.

"Aww, hearing all these nice things you have to say about me is so sweet!", Saori gushed at the doorway.

"Well, we meant what we said.", Jake smiled, earning an affirmation from everyone else.

Kiriya walked past Saori when the exchange was finished and looked at his students, the room's vibe changing from complimentary to attentive as he did so.

"Class, you may be dismissed.", Kiriya informed his students, earning reactions such as "What?", "Are you serious?", and You're joking, right?", and what have you.

"But Kiriya-Sensei, we haven't even done any kind of academic work!", Ikaruga exclaimed in shock as she reminded her teacher of what they were going to do.

"Asuka's mother has informed me of matters that are currently of more importance than me teaching today. So, you six are getting the day off. I'll inform the truancy officers to leave you be. You may go now.", Kiriya spoke.

"Sweet! A free day!", Katsuragi yelled triumphantly as she jumped out of her chair and began to leave.

"What should we do now?", Ikaruga asked.

"Can we go to the mall?", Asuka asked everyone else.

"Sure! Sounds fun.", Jake chimed as he got up alongside everyone else and followed after Katsuragi.

"Kiriya, should we tell him about what's going on?", Saori asked, her eyes following Jake before he was out of sight.

"No. He'll find out later. It's best for him to not worry about them right now.", Kiriya replied quietly.

Kagurazaka Shopping Mall

11:29 AM

The Hanzo students had been at the mall for about two to three hours after they left school much earlier than usual, and they all looked around in various stores, mostly the clothing and apparel kind, although they went inside a bookstore, a video game specialty shop, a comic book &amp; hobby shop, and a toy emporium as well. Everyone had bought at least one or two items from the stores they were at, and Jake had been kind enough to offer to carry the girls' things for them. Asuka and Hibari took him up on the offer, while Katsuragi, Ikaruga, and Yagyu went inside one of the women's bathrooms in the mall so they could seal their shopping bags in ninja storage scrolls without civilian shoppers seeing the process done in action. They were now discussing what they were going to eat for lunch, since everyone was starting to get hungry.

"Hey, Asuka. Is Chipotle a thing here in Japan?", Jake asked.

"What's a Chipotle?", Asuka asked back, not knowing what it was.

"An American-based Mexican Food restaurant, but none exist here in Japan. I've heard of a similar restaurant called Frijoles, but it's in Azabujuban.", Ikaruga informed her junior classmates.

"We don't have the time to go all the way there! We've barely even looked halfway through this mall!", Jake exclaimed in shock.

"Well, that's off of the list of choices, then.", Katsuragi groaned.

"Hey, what's that place over there?", Hibari asked as she pointed at a specific area of the food court they were in.

"Huh? Oh, that's Sunny J, a fruit smoothie shop that also sells pastries, fruits, and some sweet candies, too.", Jake informed the pinkette.

"CANDIES!", Hibari squealed in glee as she immediately made a mad dash towards the smoothie shop while Yagyu chased after her to make sure she didn't get too far ahead of everyone and eat the entire supply of sweet foods.

"She just loves sweets, doesn't she?", Katsuragi grinned.

"Well, it looks like we have a winner.", Ikaruga said.

"Sounds good to me.", Asuka smiled.

"Same here.", Jake agreed.

A few minutes later...

"How is everyone's smoothie?", Asuka asked her classmates.

"Hella good.", Jake replied as he sipped from his straw with a content smile gracing his features.

"Ditto!", Katsuragi grinned as she did the same with hers.

"Quite citrus-laden, but overall pleasing.", Ikaruga stated.

"It's alright.", Yagyu stated.

"Umm... Berry... Aaah... yummy. Berry yummy!", Hibari said in english, earning a laugh from Jake.

"I didn't know you spoke english, Hibari.", Asuka exclaimed in surprise.

"Well..., since my parents want me to be the future heiress to our clan, they thought it would be good for me to learn a second language, so I've been practicing really hard. I'm still not as good at speaking it as Jake is able to, though.", Hibari said sheepishly.

"Well, you just have to practice and get good at it, just like anything else in life. It took me a long time to learn your language, but now I speak it well enough. And on top of that, I'm constantly learning new words and phrases from you guys, so I guess the learning never stops. I'm sure you'll do just as well with your language lessons, so keep at it.", Jake reassured the pinkette.

"Thank you, Jeiku-kun! Hibari will do her best!", Hibari said with enthusiasm.

"Hey, it's not like doing this instead of going to school isn't fun and all, but what do think Asuka's mom told Kiriya-Sensei that was so important that it made him decide to let us leave?", Katsuragi asked everyone.

"I wouldn't know, but he seemed really tense when he came back from the hallway, so, hopefully it isn't anything bad.", Ikaruga responded while trying not to look worried.

"Still, I'm curious. What did my mom tell Master Kiriya that got him like that?", Asuka wondered.

"I'm wondering the same thing, Asuka. But hopefully, it's nothing.", Jake assumed.

Meanwhile, back at Sunni Jei...

"Ah... Itadakimasu!", a teenage blonde-haired foreign girl said to the cashier as she grabbed her smoothie and walked away to find a place to sit.

"I know Mom and I just moved here last night, but it's really hard to speak Japanese. How does Jake supposedly do this every single day?", the girl questioned herself. While lost in her thought, she accidentally bumped into a short-statured black-haired loli girl wearing an eyepatch and a pink camisole who looked to be barely twelve years old, but might be older than that.

"Chotto! Anata ga okanatte iru baai ni wa, anata ga baka o mitekudasai!", the small girl shouted angrily.

"I'm sorry.", the blonde said as she bowed respectfully to the other girl.

"Nani?"

"D'oh! I forgot most people here don't speak english. Come on, Caitlin! Put on your thinking cap! What the heck was the phrase for this situation again?", Caitlin thought to herself.

"Eeeehhh...", was all that she could say for a brief moment.

"Anata ga tsunori nanika, matawa nani o itte imasu ka?", the short loli-girl asked with an impatient tone.

"Ah! ...Gomen'nasai! Yeah, that's it!", Caitlin spoke mentally.

"Gomen'nasai.", Caitlin said to the girl as she bowed again.

"A. Yoku moshibun naku, sonogo.", the younger girl smiled before bowing back and walking away.

"That was a lot harder than it needed to be.", Caitlin sighed. "I couldn't even understand what she was saying to me, but I guess she understood I was sorry and accepted it. I might as well get used to things like this happening every day, now."

Caitlin took a sip of her drink and scanned the food court tables with her eyes and saw someone that she knew all too well to be mistaken as someone else.

Back to our heroes...

"Well, we're almost done with our drinks, so let's hurry up and look around some more!", Katsuragi spoke, impatient but excited as usual.

"Ooh! We should go try on some clothes while we're here!", Asuka suggested excitedly. As the girls conversated about what they hoped to find, Jake tuned out the sound around him as his mind entered a blank state. He stayed like this for a time he hadn't bothered to keep count of, when a certain voice coming from afar broke his train of no-thought.

"Jake?"

Jake's ears perked up wondering if it was just his mind playing tricks on him. He turned around to where the voice came from and saw a girl with wavy blonde hair tied to the right side of her head in a ponytail. She had purple eyes that were the same hue as a midnight sky with a few light freckles dotting her cheeks, which added to her attractiveness instead of hindering it. She was wearing a lavender colored form-fitting tank top, a short dark green skirt, and brown leather cowgirl boots that reached just below her knees. She looked directly at Jake with a surprised look on her face.

"Caitlin!", Jake's eyes widened as a huge, happy smile formed on his face. The Hanzo girls took notice as he edged out of his seat, stood up, and hugged Caitlin tightly as she hugged him back.

"I missed you, Big Brother.", Caitlin told him.

"Hehe, I missed you too.", Jake said back as he let go of his sister. He looked at her face and noticed something different about it.

"What happened to your glasses?", Jake asked.

"Well…, I'm wearing contacts now. I was eligible to have them prescribed to me, so I started using them about a day before Mom and I left San Francisco. It still feels a little bit weird, but I'm starting to get used to them."

"Wow, I can't believe it.", Jake said with an amazed look. "So, what are you doing here, where's Mom at right now, and how long are you two staying for?", Jake asked excitedly.

"Mom's shopping nearby. I'll text her now to tell her that I ran into you here. As for how long we're staying? Well… indefinitely."

"Indefinitely? What do you mean?", Jake asked with a confused look.

"Jake, who is this?", Asuka's voice spoke from behind Jake. Jake turned around to see his classmates giving him questioning looks. Despite feeling slightly embarrassed from the stares they were giving him and Caitlin, he answered.

"This is my younger sister.", he spoke to the Hanzo students.

"You have a sister?", Katsuragi asked.

"Remember when you five were sneaking in my room after my first day of school?", Jake asked with a deadpan expression. "There's pictures on my wall and a lot of them were photos of my family. She's in a bunch of them."

"Well, she does look similar to a young girl with glasses I saw in a photo with you in your room that day. But she looked different in the photo compared to what I'm seeing now.", Ikaruga recalled.

"Well, I guess she did grow her hair out, which must run in the family since I did it, too. And she's wearing contacts now instead of glasses, which was a recent thing, as I just found out. But yeah, she's my sister."

"Jake, who are these girls and what are you talking to them about?", Caitlin asked.

"They're my classmates from school. They were curious as to who you were, so I told them about you just now.", Jake answered as he turned his attention back to his younger sibling.

"Are all of your classmates extremely pretty girls with well-developed breasts?", Caitlin asked with a snarky tone, using one of her hands to hide a mischievous smile.

"I don't need to answer that!", Jake responded hotly, feeling flustered and warm in the face.

"Well, I'd still like to meet them, seeing as one of them might end up being my future sister-in-law."

"I have no such interest in any of them in that way!", Jake denied loudly, but he knew Caitlin was having too much fun from this, her giggling fit being all the proof he needed.

"Guys, this is my occasionally-irritating younger sister, Caitlin. She and my mother are apparently visiting.", Jake introduced Caitlin to his classmates before continuing to speak. "But, neither of them know anything about me being a shinobi as well as Hikaru's reincarnation. They also don't know anything about Yami, the Hebijo students, about the Hanzo &amp; Hebijo schools, and about you five. It's easiest to say they know nothing about ninjas in general. All they know is that I have a job, live at the dorms, and that they were told by Kiriya-Sensei that I'm in Advanced Placement with all of you. So can you keep our Shinobi duties on the downlow from them, please?", Jake asked concerningly. "Even though they're both pesky, I don't want them to be in danger from knowing about that and becoming caught up between us and the enemy."

Asuka gave him a serious nod, as did the others, before Jake turned to Caitlin to introduce Asuka and the others to her.

"Caitlin, these are my classmates in advanced placement. Asuka's the smiling one with the brown hair tied in a ponytail. Ikaruga is the girl with the long black hair and warm smile. Katsuragi is your fellow blonde with a tomboyish attitude. Yagyu is the quiet girl with silver hair and eyepatch. And Hibari is the adorable one with pink hair and clover eyes. Remember that now.", Jake explained to Caitlin. (By the way, anyone who knows what book series Jake's description style is paying homage to gets a gold star. -Frotendo)

"Ah... Nai...su... tu... michu.", Hibari spoke to Caitlin.

"What?", Caitlin had trouble understanding what the pink-haired girl had spoken to her. She sounded it out loud a couple of times in her head until she had figured out that Hibari was attempting to say "Nice to meet you.".

"Oh! It's nice to meet you, too, Hibari.", Caitlin greeted back. Hibari couldn't help but feel proud that Caitlin was able to understand what she said, even if it wasn't perfectly spoken. Caitlin looked to Yagyu and held out her hand, which Yagyu just silently looked at before nodding no."

"What's her deal, Jake?", Caitlin whispered to her brother who was standing a few feet away.

"I think she'd like you to bow as a salutation. It is a custom here.", Jake informed. Caitlin bowed towards Yagyu while speaking the proper Japanese greeting. This time Yagyu was content with Caitlin's actions and gave a nod of affirmation, allowing Caitlin to move on to meeting Katsuragi, though the eastern blonde had seemingly disappeared from own her seat. Caitlin swore that it would have been impossible for her to leave without at least two of the other girls on either side getting out of their seats first.

"Hey, Jake? Where did she go?", Caitlin asked, unaware that directly behind her, a giddy Katsuragi was slowly reaching for Caitlin's noticeably-supple breasts with her greedy hands. As Katsuragi was about to go in for the prize, she made the mistake of bursting into loud, excitable laughter, with which Caitlin became spooked from and she quickly turned around and instinctively slugged Katsuragi in the gut without realizing who it was. Caitlin gasped at what she had just done as Katsuragi doubled over in pain onto the ground and held her stomach while waiting for the pain to subside.

"Oh my god! I'm so sorry, Katsuragi! I didn't hurt you too bad, did I?", Caitlin asked worriedly, unaware of the reason why Katsuragi was behind her in first place. Everyone else knew why as they all saw what Katsuragi had attempted to do.

"Damn, Jake. Your sister punches hard.", Katsuragi groaned from the floor.

"I know, right? You should never sneak up on Caitlin, or even stand behind her or walk past when her back is turned. I learned that the hard way a few Halloweens ago, but at least she apologized afterwards.", Jake recollected.

"A word of warning, though. If she ever found out the reason you were behind her, you'd better run for the hills to get as far away from her as possible, or she will demolish you. Speaking of which, never do anything like that to her again.", Jake told her ominously. Katsuragi paled in the face when she saw he was he was being dead-serious, and she quickly scurried back to her seat so as to show him that there would be no fondling of his sister on her part.

"Do you always have problems with staying seated, Katsuragi-san?", Ikaruga chided, remembering how the same thing happened earlier that morning when Kiriya went outside to talk to Saori.

"But she's soooo sexy!", Katsuragi whined.

"She's Jake's sister. Did you really think that you could try doing that with her when he's right there?", the ravenette scolded.

"Whatever! He enjoys seeing it!"

"No, I do not.", Jake spoke in japanese before switching to english. "Caitlin, this is Ikaruga, the Class President. But it'll probably be easier for you to call her Ika-chan."

"Yes. It's very nice to meet you, Caitlin.", Ikaruga spoke in perfect english (much to Hibari's visible envy) with a kind smile.

"You as well.", Caitlin spoke back, also smiling as the two girls bowed to each other. Caitlin turned to Asuka as the latter began talking to her.

"Sore wa, Keitorin-chan ni oaidekiteureshidesu. Anata wa ani no tame Jeiku-kun no yo ni sutekinahito o motte iru koun.", Asuka spoke with a slight blush.

"Hehehe.", Jake elicited small laughter.

"What did she say just now?", Caitlin asked curiously.

"Nothing bad. Just that she said that it's nice to meet you and that you're lucky to have a brother as nice as me.", Jake translated to her with a grin.

"Is that so?", Caitlin asked.

"Yup.", Jake replied.

"Can we go now? This family reunion of yours isn't fun anymore!", Katsuragi said with an exaggerated yawn.

"Jake, I am glad for you that your family is here, but we still would like to go have a look at the other shops.", Ikaruga reminded.

"Alright, you guys can go ahead. Caitlin's probably going to need my help getting around this place and we still have to find our mom, anyways.", Jake spoke.

As Jake was talking with Asuka and the other girls, Caitlin took a good look at Asuka and she felt that there was something special about her. The way Asuka briefly looked at Jake as he spoke to her and the others, along with her slight blush and the way that she seemed to play with her fingers underneath the food court table when she sat next to him made her put two and two together and smiled for the short brunette girl.

"My brother's an idiot.", Caitlin thought to herself as she smirked.

"Yoohoo! Caitlin, honey!", a woman called out to the former, catching hers, Jake's, and the others' attention.

"Mom, there you are! Look who's here!", Caitlin told her excitedly while motioning towards Jake. Luciana saw him and dropped her shopping bags upon seeing her son for the first time in many long months.

"Jake... My baby..."

"Hi, Mom.", Jake smiled. Luciana hurried over and hugged Jake while he held her tightly.

"I missed you, my sweet young man.", Luciana gushed at her son.

"I missed you, too.", Jake said.

Meanwhile, Asuka and the others watched Jake embrace his mother's hug. When they got a good look at her, they noticed that she was an extremely attractive woman who physically looked like she was still in her mid-twenties, but had to be significantly older than that, given that Jake was her oldest child and he himself was 16. She had dark-blonde, curly hair (though they were much milder than Jake's own curls) that reached her shoulders with a bang partially concealing her left eye, with both of those being the same chocolate-colored eyes that Jake sported. She was also wearing a lime-green, v-cut sweater that showed an impressive amount of cleavage alongside a short lilac skirt going around her thighs. Finally, she wore laced high heels made from brown leather and carried a purse made of a similar material.

"She's beautiful.", Asuka thought out loud.

"She looks just like Haruka-sama.", Hibari said in awe.

"{Sigh}... Must you be like this with all of Jake's female relatives, Katsuragi-san?", Ikaruga asked as Asuka, Hibari, and Yagyu, confused by Ikaruga's question, all turned to see Katsuragi loudly giggling as she had the biggest nosebleed she had ever gotten from ogling someone, all the while drooling so much that a mall janitor had put a wet floor caution sign by their table.

"Are you here with your friends? I hope me and your sister didn't interrupt what you were doing too much.", Luciana broke from the embrace and turned towards the table Jake was sitting at to see five voluptuous and attractive teenage girls sitting there, looking at Jake, Caitlin, and her. There was an unspoken tension in the air felt by everyone else before she continued talking to Jake.

"Jake, are these some of your friends from school?", Luciana asked.

"Yeah, they're my classmates in advanced placement. Why?", Jake replied.

"Oh, I'm just wondering if these are all of your friends, if that is correct?"

"Yeah. These are all of my friends.", Jake smiled hoping to save face.

"Jake, honey?"

"Yes, Mom?"

"Are you the only boy amongst your friends?", Luciana asked ominously.

"Uhh, kinda... yeah?", Jake answered as he scratched the back of his head.

"..."

"Mom, are you oka-?"

"NOOOOOOOOOO!", Luciana screamed, which ended up scaring the living daylights out of everyone else, especially Jake since he was right next to her.

"Mom! What are you doing? What's wrong?", Caitlin asked worriedly.

"What's wrong? What's wrong?! Caitlin, your brother is a sex fiend! That's what's wrong!"

"Wait, what?!", Jake did a double take as he tried to process what his mother had called him.

"Jake, I thought you knew better than to pick up on the habits of a gigolo?! Didn't I raise you better than this?!"

"Gigolo?! What are you talking about?!", Jake asked hotly.

"You're a boy, and all of your classmates are girls. Don't tell me you haven't ever looked at them in certain ways!"

"WHAT?!"

"Jeez, Mom... Sexist, much?", Caitlin chided.

"You stay out of this, young lady! Your mother needs to teach your brother on how to respect women properly!", Luciana yelled hysterically. While Caitlin and Jake attempted to calm her down, because of language barriers, everyone else didn't know what was happening, except Ikaruga and Katsuragi, the ravenette perfectly understanding everything that Jake, Caitlin, and Luciana had spoken, while the blonde couldn't interpret what was being said, but followed their body language and behaviors to figure out why Jake's mother was upset and began laughing once she knew.

"Sempai, what's she yelling at Jeiku-kun about?", Hibari asked Ikaruga. Ikaruga was blushing heavily and had a little trouble on how to describe the situation in the most appropriate way possible.

"It seems that Jake's mother is a little... overprotective of him, as well as extremely uninformed about the relationship he has with us.", Ikaruga relayed.

"What do you mean?", Asuka asked.

"It means that she thinks that he's a player in a management profession because he's the only guy in our group of friends.", Katsuragi snickered. "I mean, come on! We all know that you and him are part of my harem!"

"What?! That's ridiculous! Jake would never be like that with us!", Asuka stood up out of her chair and began walking over to their friend's family before Jake stopped her.

"Don't wear yourself out on her, Asuka. It's gonna take a long while for her to stop with this, and I don't want to keep you and the others waiting around here. You go continue shopping and I'll see you guys back at the dorms later.", Jake said sheepishly.

"The rest can go. I don't care about shopping right now anyways. You're in a tight spot, so I'm gonna help you fix it, whether you like it or not.", Asuka told him firmly while puffing her cheeks in defiance.

"It's your loss, sister! Women's lingerie, here I come!", Katsuragi yelled as she made a mad dash towards a strip of clothing and apparel stores, Hibari and Yagyu following suit. Ikaruga sighed before wishing Asuka and Jake luck and following the others, although choosing to walk instead of running like they had done.

"I hope this turns out well.", Asuka said.

"Me too.", Jake nodded.

Hours later, at the Hanzo Dorms...

5:42 PM

Katsuragi, Ikaruga, Yagyu, and Hibari had gotten back to the dorms about two hours after they left Jake and Asuka behind at the mall's food court on the former's urging and had eaten a dinner of miso soup and fried calamari made by Ikaruga and Yagyu. Oddly enough, Kiriya was still at the classroom when they returned, and he had partaken in the girls' dinner as well. When he was asked why he was still here long after the school day had ended, even longer than that, considering he had dismissed them much earlier, he simply responded that he needed to inform Jake of something important. While Kiriya waited in the classroom kitchen drinking a cup of coffee, the girls were currently lounging in their dormitory waiting for Jake and Asuka to return. They didn't have to wait much longer as the two second-years walked inside and they all rushed inside the kitchen, eager to find out whether they got Jake's mother to calm down, as well as whatever matter Kiriya would be informing the sole male student about.

"So, how did it go?", Ikaruga asked in concern.

"Well, it got much better and much worse at the same time.", Asuka said vaguely.

"Yeah, we've got good news and bad news.", Jake spoke.

"What's going on, you two? Why weren't you with the others when they had returned?", Kiriya asked, even though he already knew the answer.

"Jake's mother and younger sister saw him with us at the mall today.", Ikaruga informed their Sensei.

"His mom freaked out because he was the only guy in our class.", Katsuragi laughed as she remembered the look of embarrassment on Jake's face as his mother caused a scene that made other mall patrons that happened to be passing by shoot awkward glances towards him and Caitlin.

"Yes, that was one of the things Saori informed me about earlier today.", Kiriya sighed.

"Wait, you knew they were here? Why didn't you say anything this morning?!", Jake asked him irritably.

"It wasn't for you to worry about at that time.", Kiriya plainly answered. "But why don't you and Asuka tell me what you two have to share?"

"The good news is that Caitlin-chan, Jake and I were able to calm their mother down.", Asuka sighed.

"So, what's the bad news?", Kiriya asked.

"I was already told by my mom her version of why she and my sister moved here, and I told Asuka what was said while we made our way back here, but I didn't completely get what she was saying and not only do you apparently know more about this than I do, but you're much better at situational assessment than I could ever be, so why don't you tell me the official version of what's been happening, Sensei?", Jake asked with salty look.

"I guess, but you will not like what I'm about to tell you.", Kiriya mused with a heavy sigh.

"Although Caitlin and Luciana do not know everything about their situation, Master Hanzo and I think the reason why they are in Japan is because of Yami's doing."

"What does he have to do with this? None of us have even seen or heard about him ever since he attacked me, so what makes you think he's behind this, Sensei?", Jake asked Kiriya.

"Maybe you haven't heard news about him, but that doesn't mean no one else hadn't either.", Kiriya stated.

"So this whole time you've known where he's been?!"

"No, we don't know where his base of operations is, only the locations of his attacks, and for the past month or so now, Yami has been directly targeting your family back in your home country. He has been trying to kill them, but for currently unknown reasons, was unsuccessful in all of his attempts. However, numerous gruesome murders of other citizens nearby where the attacks occurred in the wake of Yami's destruction. Once the law enforcement in the city realized that Luciana and Caitlin were recurring targets there, they were put in what their government calls a "Witness Relocation Program", meaning that they are moved to a distant location away from the threat. However, I fear that this is what Yami had planned for, as he no longer has any need to be in San Francisco, now that your family is here. Now that they're on his home turf, he will have a much easier time attacking them, and as a result, they are now at a much higher risk than ever of being killed because they had chosen to move here."

"But what's gonna happen if Jake's not protecting them? We don't want his family members to be killed!", Asuka demanded, earning verbal acknowledgement from everyone except Yagyu and Jake, the former looking like she was caught in a trance after Asuka said the words "family members" and "killed". And Jake himself was in a blank state of shock and fear from what he has heard so far.

"Asuka, Jake has to focus on his shinobi training. He can't watch them or protect them constantly if he's battling the Hebijo alongside you five as well as training in basic, advanced, supplementary, water style, and light style ninjutsu all at once. And Jake, before you object to this, despite you being a quick learner, currently you are not anywhere near strong enough to defeat your peers, let alone an opponent like Yami, and you have the least amount of experience compared to those same peers. Yami would kill you instantly if you fought him now.", Kiriya told his male student sternly. Jake just silently glanced his eyes at Kiriya without the rest of his body moving, while the others, moreso Asuka in particular, couldn't help but wish that something would put his paranoia at ease, but chose to be silent as well. Kiriya noticed the empathetic looks his other students were giving Jake and couldn't help but remember a similar situation during his schooldays when his Shinobi classmates, male and female alike (the student gender ratio was much more balanced back then), held him close to them while he grieved the death of his mother, whom he was told by Hanzo that she had died in the line of duty. He also remembered Rin, and what he was told of her fate. He won't allow the same to happen to any of his current students or their families, knowing too well that most of them have been through huge losses before they were even ninja to begin with. He just knew he wouldn't be doing it directly, as it had cost him in the past.

"But...", Kiriya spoke once again. "They are being watched. Master Hanzo assigned Asuka's mother to be their secret bodyguard. and they are constantly being watched by her fire clones. Saori was my upperclassman in my younger days of being a student, and she's definitely more than capable of protecting your family. Luciana and Caitlin are in very good hands, so there is no need to worry about them."

Jake looked up towards Kiriya, who gave him a pursed-lips smile. Seeing his sensei do something he's probably never done in his entire life caused Jake to smile slightly and laugh at what he was seeing, his worries forgotten almost completely. Meanwhile, all of the girls' mouths were agape at seeing Kiriya's facial expression, and they started to smile and laugh out of shock as well.

"I hope you all feel uplifted and enjoyed that, because I doubt I'll ever do it again.", Kiriya quipped. "At least not when any of you are able to witness it.", He thought as his grin formed back into it's neutral frown, though he was still smiling inside.

"Tomorrow, we're upping the ante on all of your training. You'll need to be prepared for whatever may come, and I expect you all here on time when class begins tomorrow."

"Yes, Sensei!", Everyone saluted.

Thursday

Hanzo Academy Nature Trail (with Asuka)

7:51 AM

In the three days since Jake had discovered that his family had moved to Japan, he and his classmates had been training harder than ever to gain more strength for their fights with Hebijo and all of them showed various levels of improvement. Since then, Jake seemed to show more eagerness for training opportunities and going on missions than he did previously and had improved the most out of the class in the span of three days, with most of his training focusing on using a signature weapon, said weapon being a hooked cane wielded like a staff (think of Sly Cooper's &amp; Donatello's weapons for a general idea of how it functions. - Frotendo). Asuka had noticed his improvement as well and was slightly envious of his progress, but she was glad overall. While on patrol duty at a nearby Shinto Shrine, Ikaruga and Yagyu had also fought their first battles with their Hebijo opposites. Yagyu had won her battle against Mirai, while the winner of Ikaruga and Yomi's fight was left undecided as both were able to combat each other on equal footing, but their fight was cut short when another kunoichi came to bring the two Hebijo kunoichi back to their base. Ikaruga had learned that this mystery woman was the sensei to the Hebijo students they had been battling, although her name was never spoken and her face was obscured by robotic dome-shaped mask that had also been electronically disguising her voice. After the enemy had fled, Ikaruga and Yagyu reported back to Kiriya of what had transpired. Asuka had taken a one-night home visit to her family to spend time with them and stayed the night at their house. Asuka had woken up around 5 AM and made breakfast for herself and her parents before she repacked her overnight bag and left to head back to Hanzo the school.

Asuka was walking on the Hanzo Academy Nature trail, basking in the morning warmth of the sun. Asuka had noticed that other people tend to get sluggish as the weather warms, and she had seen firsthand that both Yagyu and Jake are not very fond of the heat and humidity that filled the air on days like this. But for her, the weather as it was now was perfect for her and she wondered if she was solar powered since the sun seemed to directly give her energy. She was in such good spirits that she couldn't stop herself from humming, and before she knew it, she looked up and saw that she had arrived at the school gate. It wasn't the front gate though. More like a secret back door made for the shinobi students so that attendees of the normal school wouldn't interact with them and begin pestering them about which class they're in. Asuka was about to walk through the gate before she was stopped by a voice calling her from behind.

"Hey!"

Surprised, Asuka turned around and saw a boy around her age in a baseball uniform running to catch up to her. She noticed that he had short buzzed hair, tanned skin, and was almost as tall as Jake and Kiriya-Sensei. He stops a distance away to catch his breath and she quickly decided that it'd be rude of her to not acknowledge him.

"Wh-what?", Asuka asked.

"Uhhh…", The boy stammered for a moment before becoming completely silent.

"I'm sorry but, I'm kind of in a hurry, so…..", Asuka said politely not wanting to stand at the rear gate for an eternity.

"I-I love you!"

"Huh?", Asuka was unprepared for what was just said and had no clue on how to make anything of it.

Meanwhile, In the Hanzo Classroom…

Jake, Katsuragi, and Ikaruga had arrived early to not be late for class and were doing various thing to keep busy. Ikaruga was polishing Hien, Jake was drawing, and Katsuragi was nodding off. Jake was about to finish the skeletal framework of what would become a sketch of a human shaped figure, but suddenly felt a jolt of pain go through his spine and into the spot on his lower back where Haruka had injured him a week prior.

"Ack…! Huuuuaaaagh!", Jake began to grunt in pain and was holding on to his head with both hands, which startled Katsuragi awake and alarmed Ikaruga that something was wrong.

"Jake? Jake?! What's the matter?!", Ikaruga asked with a worried expression.

"Jake, are you feeling okay?!", Katsuragi asked with concern as well.

"Haaaahh… hah… kyuua…", Jake panted heavily before a surge of power was felt throughout the room and the two third years saw Jake's eyes glow, the power of his light abilities manifesting. Jake however, could not hear anything his upperclassmen were speaking to him and as for his sight, he was only able to see nothing but a white void, which was quickly replaced by images flashing inside his mind. The first image was an apparition of Hikaru, then there was the image of a younger Hikaru with a grayish-purple-haired girl with icy blue eyes. Jake had never seen this girl before, yet she still looked familiar somehow. And the final image he saw were of two godlike figures. The first being was a tall, beautiful woman with long red hair and a curvaceous figure. She wore a regal looking plain white toga that reached just barely below her knees, while the top part left her right shoulder exposed and was secured to her body with a purple ribbon going around her waist. The skirt of it was cut on the sides to expose her legs which wore gold-colored high-heeled sandals that were open-toed and woven in an intricate pattern. The last things he saw on her was an ornate looking gold crossbow strapped to her left arm and a crown made out of golden wheat grass similar to what the Greeks had worn millenias ago.

Moving on to the second being, he saw that it was a massive robotic titan that seemed to stand about ten feet tall and it had a face that looked like the mask that he saw on the statue at Hikaru's shrine before he unwillingly absorbed it into his body and changed the course he would take in life. It's torso and shoulder armors were colored gold while the rest of it's armor was pearly white with a very faint pink hue. It's face was colored gold as well, which had four short protrusions flaring out of each side of it's head as well three narrower ones from the top of the face that slickly curved above it's scalp. It had three gash marks on each cheek along with a mouth that was neither frowning nor smiling, and it's eyes glowed a light neon shade of blue.

"Jake?! Jake, speak to us, dammit!", Katsuragi shook him by the shoulders trying to get a response. The glow in Jake's eyes faded away while Jake had regained his vision and saw his classmates looking petrified.

"Damn, that was weird… and painful. What the hell happened just now?", Jake asked in a tired manner.

"You looked like you were in pain and had us worried.", Ikaruga answered.

"Yeah and your eyes were glowing while it all happened.", Katsuragi added.

"Wow, that's what you saw? All I experienced was pain in my back and head and some weird hallucinations.", Jake answered.

"Well, since it's over, are you feeling alright now? Would you like to have tea to make it better?", Ikaruga questioned him in a doting manner.

"Yeah, the pain is starting to go away, but you don't have to trouble yourself to make tea for me. Still, thanks for your concern and offering to make it.", Jake smiled, though it wasn't as big as normal due to him still recovering from the phantom pains lingering throughout the two areas.

"What was with that? Who was that girl Hikaru was interacting with? And who were the red-haired woman and gold robot supposed to be?", Jake thought to himself.

Back with Asuka and the unknown boy…

"I love you! Please go out with me!", the boy spoke to Asuka once again. Asuka didn't respond, having nothing she could think of to say to him. At this, the boy turns and runs off like a frightened dog.

"What was that all about?", Asuka wondered as she checked her watch and saw that class was about to start. Asuka dashed to the classroom hoping to not be late.

A few hours later…

Hanzo Shinobi Classroom

11:54 AM

Once Asuka had arrived at around 8:02 AM, she saw that she was the last person to show up to class, Yagyu and Hibari having gotten there three minutes before her while the others had been there even longer. She had sat down in her seat between Ikaruga and Jake, the latter of whom looked more pale than his usual peach-colored skin normally was. When she asked if he was okay, he assured her he was fine, stating that he had only suffered a migraine minutes prior. She sensed he wasn't telling everything to her, but she accepted his answer anyway and the entire morning passed in a daze as Asuka kept repeating the words that the mystery boy had said to her earlier in her head.

"I love you. Please, go out with me."

No boy had ever said anything like that to her before and she didn't know what to make of it. She then glanced over to the only other boy she'd been acquainted with, who was finishing a nearly complete drawing in his sketchbook. He wrote his signature down before he noticed Asuka had been looking at him and proceeded to smile at her before quickly he quickly averted his face away from her and for a moment, she thought she had seen his face starting to become red.

"Is something wrong, Asuka-née chan?" You're not eating", Hibari asked as she peered at the brunette's face. Asuka had realized that it was lunch time and everyone was eating except her. She had just been sitting in her seat with an unopened bento box, daydreaming and occasionally staring at Jake.

"Did something happen?", Hibari pressed.

"No, it's just… a boy I don't know tried to confess his love to me.", Asuka answered. Everyone in the Ninja Room reacted in unison and appear to be more shocked than Asuka herself was. Jake had nearly choked on the teriyaki chicken he was eating upon hearing what Asuka had told Hibari.

"Details! I want the hot, juicy details!", Katsuragi demanded.

"I… I'm honestly surprised this happened to you.", Ikaruga spoke.

"A boy…?", Hibari asked.

"I'm interested as well.", Yagyu stated.

"Wh-what did you think of him?", Jake asked nervously.

A couple of minutes later…

"From what you've told us, this boy is a baseball player from a different school, is that correct?", Ikaruga asked in a calm tone, something that Asuka wished to emulate in herself.

"A baseball player! Nice, Asuka! He could be a future leaguer! Sounds like you got yourself a real catch!", Katsuragi congratulated enthusiastically.

"Really?"

"Hell yeah! If you're not planning to be a newscaster or performer, it can't hurt to snag someone who is, ya know?"

Asuka couldn't disagree more. She had no plans to be a television announcer or entertainer, much less date someone who might choose one of those professions. She just wants to be a shinobi, and maybe be with someone who shares the same goal. Still, in the face of Katsuragi's encouragement, Asuka couldn't help but give the blonde a wry smile.

"Ikaruga-chan? Baseball's where they hit those balls that go really fast, right…?", Hibari asks the former.

"Yes, and some pro baseball players are athletes on par with any ninja.", Ikaruga replied.

"If that's true, then I'll bet they could use a sword to deflect shuriken!", Hibari exclaimed enthusiastically. Although she was off the mark, Hibari proved that she had an active imagination that endeared herself to those around her. Asuka had a somewhat morbid thought about watching an actual baseball game and seeing the pitcher throw a shuriken towards whoever was batting, only for the batter to hit a foul and have the shuriken hit a hot dog vendor in the stands.

"I have to pee.", Jake bluntly excused himself to go use the bathroom. Secretly, he just didn't want to hear about Asuka's unnamed admirer anymore.

"Those are words of wisdom that even Confucius would be envious of.", Katsuragi snickered. "But that's why we love him."

Katsuragi's last sentence had hit Asuka like a load of bricks. They all loved Jake like he was their brother, but Asuka felt like she cared for him on an entirely different level above that. But she was scared that he didn't feel the same about her and the boy in the baseball uniform had made it even more complicated for Asuka.

"So, what do you plan to do?", Ikaruga asked.

"That's the question, isn't it…?"

Everyone looked to see that Yagyu had spoken up.

"We are shinobi. You mustn't forget that.", the silverette said quietly.

The Ninja Room, once bustling with activity, becomes silent. Even Katsuragi calms herself down for once.

"I- I'm aware of that.", Asuka stated.

"You don't have time to spare for love. You should focus on being a shinobi."

"Yeah. Come to think of it, Asuka, do you even know what going out is, or how you're supposed to do it?", Katsuragi asked.

"Yes, and you don't know what kind of person that boy is, and we know even less than that. Hey may not be the kind of person you would want to be near, much less fall in love with him.", Ikaruga added.

"What about Jeiku-kun?", Hibari asks with a smile.

Before anyone else could say anything, Jake had re-entered the Ninja Room with more of his teriyaki chicken he had saved from his job at Hiro's restaurant in a to-go box. Everyone looked at Hibari in shock, then at Jake, and back to Hibari again, wondering if the pinkette was suggesting what they thought she had suggested. Asuka's faced tinted red before a shy smile crept onto her face.

"Looks like we have a shipper on deck.", Katsuragi thought with a toothy grin.

"What'd I miss?", Jake asked his classmates.

"Nothing. Let's just continue eating.", Ikaruga smiled, though it was mostly directed towards Asuka and it was a smile of encouragement.

With her mood somewhat improved, Asuka opened the lid of her bento box with her favorite food, which were homemade futomaki rolls. As she bit into her sushi, she silently assured herself that she would speak to Jake the night after the next day.

Asakusa Hiking Trail

Friday

6:28 AM

Early the next morning, Asuka was running along a mountain path as part of her extra training. It was her own personal choice, since she felt she was still inexperienced as a ninja. She wasn't anywhere near as much of a bruiser as Katsuragi was, Ikaruga was much faster, and both Yagyu's strategical mastery and Hibari's espionage skills were superior also. Even Jake's non-conformity to shinobi battle standards wasn't a hinderance to him, alongside his upper body brimming with slim, but noticeable muscles that oozed raw physical power, earned through his own shinobi training. Asuka, though she wasn't sore about it, didn't like losing to anyone, so she trained as much as she could. She stops running when she senses another person nearby where she was.

"Who's there?", Asuka calls out. A few bushes rustled and out of them came the boy from the day prior, wearing his baseball uniform once again.

"H-huh? What are you doing here?", the boy asks in a surprised tone.

"I could ask you the same thing… Oh, no… please don't tell me you're a stalker… are you?"

"I was at batting practice, and I'm retrieving balls now.", The boy shakes his head in a panicky haste.

"All by yourself?"

"Y-yeah! I'm doing individual training.", he responded.

"Just like me…", Asuka thought silently.

"I'm practicing baseball like no one has before. This sport is precious to me."

Asuka wanted to tell him that she knew the feeling he was describing. She caught a glance at his face. Even when he's drenched in sweat, he's still invigorated with energy.

"H-hey… you can call me Suzuki. Can I ask what your name is?"

"Suzuki, why would you try to confess your love to a girl whose name you don't even know?", Asuka asked him. She felt bad that she's probably being a little bit mean to him right now.

"Because, uh…"

"Because why?"

"It was like love at first sight for me.", he surmised.

"I'm Asuka. It's nice to meet you.", the brunette gave a friendly smile to Suzuki as the latter let out a huge sigh.

"Asuka… I know this is pretty awkward, but… If you're willing to answer, I'd like to ask again."

"Ask me what?"

"Would you be willing to go out with me?", Suzuki asks once more. Asuka was left with nothing to say and falls completely silent. Nothing could be heard except the sounds of the wind and chirping birds.

"I'm really bothering you, aren't I?", Suzuki smiles bitterly. Asuka just stares at him quietly.

"I mean, I'm a total stranger, so it makes sense, hehe…", Suzuki chuckles nervously as he scratches his head. "But still, I'm glad you know who I am now. And hey, we've a baseball game coming up on Sunday. If you're up for it, would you come to it?", Suzuki looks Asuka straight in the eye as he asks this. Asuka looked back at him, unsure of what to say. Suzuki lowers his head slightly and begins running down the mountain. Asuka takes this as a sign for her to get moving as she heads off to class so that she'd be early.

Meanwhile, with Jake…

7:06 AM

Jake had arrived at the house where his family now resided in Asakusa. Jake's mother had to get an early start at her new day job, and she had asked him via text message to take Caitlin to her new school in Luciana's place. Jake punched in the numbered password his mother had given him on the electronic door lock and unlocked it. He walked inside and saw that there were moving boxes here and there that hadn't been unpacked and formal clothing belonging to both his mother and sister were hung in an open closet downstairs. He didn't see Caitlin anywhere, so he called out her name and hoped she would respond. No answer came, so he went upstairs and looked through various rooms, eventually coming to the closed door of a room that had to be the one she was in, seeing as the other rooms didn't have his sister in it.

"Caitlin, are you in here?", Jake asked. No one replied, so he opened the door and saw a messy bed with a human-shaped lump buried under many blankets and a head of wavy blonde hair was protruding out of it. Caitlin was fast asleep, softly snoozing as she did so. Jake walked over and gently poked her awake.

"Cat, wake up. Today's your first day of school in a new country.", Jake spoke gently as he prodded her cheek with his finger.

"Five more minutes…", Caitlin murmured with half-lidded eyes.

"Your classes start in twenty-two minutes.", Jake told her. Caitlin responded by rolling over to have her back face him and continued to lay in bed.

"Well, she's being difficult, so I'll have to resort to using that.", Jake thought to himself. He cleared his throat and took a nice breath before he spoke again.

"Caaaiitliin! Fugging wake uuuuupp! What the funk are you dooooiiing? Waaaake uuuup!", Jake said in a whiny mock valley girl dialect.

"Ugh, Jake! Stop!", Caitlin told her brother groggily.

"Noooo, I won't fugging stop doing a whiny Paris Hilton impression until you get uuuuuuppp! CAAAAIIITLIIIIN!…!", the pitch in Jake's voice became so shrill that Caitlin could not stand to hear it anymore.

"ALRIGHT! I'm awake now! Please, just stop talking in that irritating voice!", Caitlin screamed, her face becoming red enough to the point that her freckles stood out more, making her head look like a strawberry. Jake became amused from the sight and relented back into his regular voice.

"Was that so hard?", Jake asked with a toothy grin. He did not wait for an answer as he continued to speak before Caitlin had a chance to say anything.

"Please take a quick shower, do your girl business, and dress up for the day. I'm saying quick shower so that I can buy us a fast breakfast before you start class and I head over to my school.", Jake instructed in a caring voice.

"We're not in the same school?", Caitlin asked, having gotten over her morning grumpiness.

"Nope. You're still middle school age while I'm the high school equivalent.", Jake replied.

"Oh, I see."

"Don't be gloomy, Sis. It doesn't matter if we're not in the same school together. I'll still be visiting you and Mom pretty often, I promise.", Jake spoke as he gave her a thumbs up. "Now go get started on your routine."

"Right!", Caitlin nodded as Jake left his sister's room and the latter proceeded downstairs to write notes about Japanese customs, formalities, and phrases his sibling would need to know about if she didn't already.

11 minutes later…

Outside of a Japanese McDonalds…

"Itadakimasu!", Caitlin called out to the cashier as she walked out of the McDonalds' entrance while Jake held the door open for her and walked with her on the route to her school to help her memorize it.

"How was that?", Caitlin asked her older brother for his approval on her etiquette.

"You have the right mindset, but I think that phrase is used for when you're a guest at another person's house or in an actual restaurant. I doubt a McDonalds is a place for using "Itadakimasu".", Jake replied as he munched on a cherry blossom hash brown (I don't know if those actually exist or not. If they do, then that's great. If not, then, uhh, pretend that they do. (-.-) -Frotendo)

"So, how are your classes? What do you learn at school and what should I expect for my curricular?", Caitlin asked. Jake sweatdropped knowing that all of his classes pertained to shinobi teachings and techniques. It's not that he wasn't allowed to tell her… well technically that was true, but he wasn't going to tell her regardless of whether that rule existed or not. He tried to remember the classes he briefly took when he was in the regular Hanzo student populace, but nothing came to him, so he would improvise for his answer.

"Well, you'll most likely be learning math and science n' stuff, alongside Japanese history and some extracurricular classes. That's what I learned.", Jake told Caitlin, hoping she would buy his answer.

"Sounds normal enough.", the blonde quipped.

"Yup."

There was a moment of silence between the two siblings before Caitlin spoke again.

"So how are your friends in your class doing?", Caitlin asked, hoping he would elaborate more on that topic than the classes he took.

"They're all good.", Jake smiled.

"What about that that Asuka girl?", Caitlin raised an eyebrow. Jake had stopped walking before speaking again.

"I think she's fine. She was kind of spacey yesterday in class, though."

"Did she say why?"

"Yeah. Apparently, some boy she had never met before had seen her before class and he asked her out.", Jake told her. Caitlin swore she saw Jake's bottom lip tremble as he answered.

"Well, what was her reply?", Caitlin pressed on.

"She said he had run away before she could answer."

"Hmm."

"Yeah."

"Well…", Caitlin spoke as she faced her body towards her brother and placed her hands on his shoulders with an enthusiastic look on her face.

"Go for it, Big Bro!", Caitlin told him.

"Go for what?", Jake asked.

"For the girl, of course! What else would I be talking about?!", Caitlin grinned.

"What girl?"

"Asuka, you dummy!", Caitlin puffed her cheeks in a pout. "Go tell her how you feel!"

"But… What if she likes that other guy instead? Me and her already get along really well. What if I tell her I love her and she doesn't feel the same. Then it'll be awkward between us, and she might not even want to be my friend anymore.", Jake lamented on the bad potential outcomes of the situation.

"Well, what is it that you like about her?", Caitlin asked, wanting to know what her brother liked about girls, and more importantly, about Asuka.

"Well, she's a nice person. A really nice one at that, and she has sweet brownish-yellow eyes that kinda remind me of maple syrup. She has pretty, dark brown hair with a cute ribbon holding part of it in a ponytail, and it looks even more gorgeous when she unties the ribbon and lets it flow naturally. She's almost always smiling and just overall beautiful.", Jake blushed as a smile slowly developed on his face.

"It sounds to me like you think she's really pretty.", Caitlin grinned.

"She's the most beautiful person I've ever seen, let alone actually known, and even that statement, I feel doesn't do enough justice for how I see her."

"That can't be all of it, though, right?", the freckled blonde wondered.

"Nowhere near all of it.", Jake assured her. He admired Asuka as a shinobi and wanting to live up to and exceed her grandfather's reputation as a ninja, just how he wants to live up to everyone's expectations of him being the Second Shinobi of Light. He couldn't tell this to Caitlin, though, as he didn't want her to know about the modern ninja society in Japan, so he would leave out those parts that gave his and Asuka's identities away. Just because he had to say less didn't mean he was done. He still had more to say.

"Asuka… She's a motivated person who works hard towards her goals, and even though she's upstaged by other people who can do the same things as her with much less effort on their part, and sometimes I'm one of those people, that still doesn't stop her from doing beyond her best. In fact, I'm envious of that trait since I always slack off in school and am easily deterred, but she seemingly never gives up on anything, even when situations aren't stacked in her favor. And she's an excellent cook, too. Even my own superb culinary skills are the equivalent of dirt when I compare it to the sushi rolls she specializes in.", Jake blushed as he closed his eyes and remembered the taste of the futomaki rolls that Asuka had given him when they first met in the shinobi hospital, his mouth beginning to leak drool before snapping out of his nostalgia.

"You feel this way about her?"

"Yeah. And her nigh-unbreakable willpower and gutsiness in life make me even more attracted to her now than I initially was when I first met her. Combine all of these things with her being a genuinely sweet, affectionate girl and always having nice things to say about and to almost anyone she's ever talked to, and I just can't help myself from loving everything about her.", Jake grinned.

"Let me ask you this, then. What if this boy had told one of your other classmates that he loved them. Would you still feel like you do now, but for them instead?"

"No. If it was Ikaruga, Kat, Yaggie, or Hibari, then I wouldn't have been bothered at all. But, the thought of Asuka potentially ending up with another boy? It hurts my heart too much to even think about that being a possible reality."

"You really do love her, don't you, Jake?", Caitlin smiled.

"I care about her more than I care about myself and every other living being on Earth combined.", Jake declared as tears streamed down his face, which he soon began to wipe away with his forearm. Caitlin smiled warmly and pressed the SAVE button on her phone, having been discreetly audio recording everything Jake had said. She wanted to give it to Asuka the next time they saw each other.

"Well, we should get going so we can both make it to our schools on time and you can tell her how you feel that much sooner.", Caitlin spoke.

"You bet. Hey, Caitlin…"

"Yes, brother?", the freckled blonde asked. Jake caught her in a hug and held her tightly before letting go.

"Thank you, Sis.", Jake grinned as he stifled any remaining sniffles he had from his display of emotion.

"Go get her.", Caitlin said as she kissed Jake's cheek. "That was for luck."

"See ya!", Jake called out as he began running briskly towards Hanzo, eagerly anticipating what he was going to do this night while Caitlin headed in the direction of her school.

Hanzo Ninja Room

12:04 PM

Right as the morning classes end for the Hanzo shinobi students, the door to the classroom flies open, though this time not off it's hinges. Everyone looks to see who was in the doorway and jolly laughter was heard that Asuka recognized as belonging to her very dear grandfather, the Legendary Toad Ninja- Hanzo. He was dressed in a sushi chef outfit and had brought many cooking tools and food ingredients on a rolling sushi cart.

"Jiji!", Asuka exclaimed happily.

"Hello, Asuka. Showing them what you're made of, are you?", the elder man asked his granddaughter.

"Master Hanzo. It's been a while.", Kiriya bowed deeply.

"Enough of that, Kiriya. It's only been three days since I last spoke with you. Besides, I've long since retired. It is you who is now Master, and to six splendid students, no less!", Hanzo chuckled.

"What brings you here, Gramps?", Jake asked with a grin.

"Ah, Jake. You're looking well. To answer your question, I thought I would visit you all and make lunch for everyone.", Hanzo replied. At that, he unties a cloth wrapper, the smell of rice vinegar greeting everyone's olfactory senses.

"Yippee! Sushi! Yay, sushi!", Hibari literally jumps for joy as everyone else gathers around Hanzo. On top of being a kunoichi, Asuka's mother co-owns a restaurant with her father, plus Hanzo. It seemed like a tough job from Asuka's viewpoint, but the regulars that dine there must make up for that.

"Here you go. Grandpa Hanzo's specialty dish: futomaki rolls. Asuka, would you be kind enough to pass these out, my dear?", Hanzo asks jovially. Asuka takes the sushi platter from her grandfather and goes around to hand out rolls to her classmates and Kiriya.

"Here goes!" *nom*, Hibari declared as she bit into her maki roll.

"It's thick, but I'll bet I can take all of it.", Katsuragi said suggestively. Neither Jake nor Ikaruga were amused from that particular line of dialog from the blonde classmate, as both looked at their phallic-looking sushi rolls and briefly showed hesitation of eating them.

"Eh, funk it. I'm hungry.", Jake stated as he put his ego aside and bit into the futomaki roll. Ikaruga very carefully chewed hers as did Jake but less monotonously on his part so that they wouldn't look suggestive eating really thick sushi rolls.

"Mm. This is actually delicious.", Ikaruga noted.

"They're good, but my opinion from two and a half months ago is unchanged.", Jake said as he swallowed his food (refer to Chapter 3 of this story for aforementioned opinion).

As everyone cheerfully stuffs a sushi roll in their mouths, Hanzo smiles at Asuka and motions for her to come to him.

"What is it, Jiji?", Asuka asks.

"I hear your thoughts have turned to love as of late.", Hanzo spoke. Asuka wondered for a moment if the others told him, but concluded that they wouldn't have just blurted this out.

"But how did he know about Suzuki?", Asuka asked herself, then she bopped her head with her hand after remembering that her grandpa is a legendary shinobi. If he had really wanted to find something out, he'd easily be able to do as such.

"I'm not in love with Suzuki-kun or anything…"

"Then are you in love with someone else or even in love at all?", Hanzo asked. Asuka stayed silent and did not answer, and Hanzo briefly saw his granddaughter's gaze avert away from him and towards Jake. Hanzo chuckled to himself but said nothing about what he saw.

"Asuka, have you heard about how your parents met?", Hanzo inquired, getting Asuka's attention back towards him. She shakes her head as Hanzo lowers his voice to a whisper and begins speaking about his daughter and son-in-law.

"Hideo, your dad, was a law student at a prestigious university and had fallen in love with your mother at first sight. Naturally, I objected to them dating, but he refused to give up on his affections and he and I had gotten a series of arguments that lasted for quite a while.", Hanzo recalled.

"So, how come you gave in and let them see each other?", Asuka asks curiously.

"Hideo gave up on his dream of being a lawyer and said he wanted to open a sushi restaurant with me. He told me he didn't need dreams or money, if he could only be with the woman he loved, then that's all that mattered to him. That woman was Saori, your beautiful mother and years later, you had come into this world as the human embodiment of their love.", Hanzo smiled warmly. Asuka had never dreamed that this was the reason her dad had come to run a sushi restaurant. She suddenly felt tears well up in her and her eyes began growing hot.

"The women in our bloodline seem to defy shinobi traditions with the men they marry. Regarding your grandmother, Sayuri was the first kunoichi in her family defy their tradition of marrying within their clan, and she had instead fallen in love with and married a man from a family hers had opposed, which was me. Your mother fell in love with Hideo and was the first kunoichi to marry a man who was not a shinobi to begin with. However you decide to carve out your future, it is good for you to love someone and you should pursue that love.", Hanzo told Asuka encouragingly. The brunette was at a loss for words. She'd never thought she'd hear her grandpa actually encourage her to pursue a boy in romance.

"Remember what I've always told you, Asuka? Power must be a pairing of sword and shield.", he reminded as Asuka nodded slightly. She had always had a knack for fighting. A lot of boys would often pick on her when she was younger because of her short stature, and she would beat up those same boys as she was growing up. Even then, she had wanted to become a shinobi. It was what felt natural for her. One day Hanzo had said to her,

"Your strength is a mere sword. And a sword is meaningless if not joined with a shield.".

Back then, she didn't have a clue what he meant by that. She had understood that a sword was strong, but she couldn't have fathomed what the shield was referring to. After all her time at Hanzo Academy so far, it wasn't until recently that she started to figure it out, but even now, she can't comprehend it to it's fullest extent. What she did know was what, or more specifically, who she wanted to be her shield. She decided that tonight, she would tell this person how she felt about them and finally acquire her shield that she had been missing.

"Thank you, Jiji.", Asuka expressed with gratitude, at which Hanzo nods deeply.

"Well, class is going to start for the lot of you again pretty soon, so I'll take my leave now.", Hanzo states as he begins to pack his supplies into the sushi cart. Asuka and the other students bow in thanks for the food he had prepared for them.

"Safe travels, Sensei.", Kiriya nods towards the legendary shinobi, and Hanzo takes one last look at Asuka and Jake before smiling to himself and departing.

"Alright class, lunch is over, so let's continue with your academics.", Kiriya stated as everyone returned to their seats. Most of the students paid attention to what Kiriya was teaching, but Jake and Asuka could hardly bear waiting for school to end that day, as they both had plans they were eagerly looking forward to. They would just have to study in class until they were dismissed.

Three-ish hours later…

"*Beeeng-bong, Booong-bing*", the school bell chimed signifying the end of classes for that week.

"Alright, you six. You're dismissed.", Kiriya informed as everyone began to pack their school supplies and head to the dorms, though the others noticed that both Asuka and Jake seemed to be quicker than usual.

"Yo, Jake! What's the hurry for? Come hang out with us!", Katsuragi suggested.

"Can't.", Jake replied speedily. "I have a, uh, doctor's appointment at the… dentist's office, or something!". Jake ran into his room in the male dormitory to change into his weekend clothing and left afterwards without another word to any of the others.

"Why was Jeiku-kun acting weird just now?", Hibari asked.

"Maybe he's got the weekend jitters.", Katsuragi shrugged.

"Perhaps.", Ikaruga assumed.

"Come on, Hibari. I'll buy you some frozen yogurt.", Yagyu told the pinkette.

"Yay! Hibari loves you, Yagyu-chan!", Hibari squealed with joy. The two first-years departed and the two third-years just looked at Asuka briefly before Ikaruga whispered something into Kat's ear.

"Yeah, let's do that.", the blonde whispered back, before both returned their attention towards Asuka once more.

"Katsuragi-san and I are going to eat an early dinner at the ramen stand she so enjoys, so you'll be here by yourself, Asuka.", the ravenette informed her underclassman.

"Oh. Well you two have fun, then!", Asuka smiles nervously as the remaining classmates leave and Asuka was by her lonesome.

"This is perfect! I can make the preparations for tonight without any more worries.", Asuka thought to herself as she dashed into the girls dormitory and opened up a drawer on the nightstand next to her bed, and pulled out a small item wrapped in tissue paper. She unwrapped it and inside was a ceramic clay frog that had been meticulously crafted by a famous Japanese artist.

"That Takashi Murakami man had been nice enough to give this to me on the condition that the person I give this to cherishes their friendship with me always, and that I do the same as well. Jake is the closest friend I've ever had and I cherish my friendship with him deeply. When I confess my love and give this to him, I know that my feelings will reach through this time. I just have to be confident!", Asuka thought to herself as she carefully put Gamachibi back into the tissue wrapping that had concealed it. Asuka put the ceramic frog on top of her bed and headed into the dorm kitchen. She opened up a confectionary cookbook and found the page listing how to make a chocolate cake, and proceeded to rummage through various cabinets to retrieve the necessary food ingredients and cooking tools she would need.

"Grandma Sayuri told me once that one of the best ways to reach a boy's heart is through his stomach, and this cake will do exactly that.", Asuka hummed cheerily as she got to work on creating the perfect chocolate cake.

Meanwhile, with Caitlin…

Caitlin had finished her first day of school in Japan and was walking on the route back to her new residence in Asakusa, thinking about what her day had been like. As she walked past one of the high schools that was along the way, there was a team of boys in baseball uniforms practicing at a field close by on the same property that she had to assume was used for batting practice and actual games as well.

"I didn't know they had baseball in Japan.", Caitlin remarked. As she lingers to watch the players practice, a small group of no more than four high school-aged delinquent boys nearby take notice of her. They begin to step over to her, having found a new person to pick on.

"Hey, you! Whaddaya think you're doing here?", the first hoodlum asks threateningly. "Middle-schoolers shouldn't be hanging around a high school!"

"Huh? What are you talking about? Who are you and what do you want from me?", Caitlin turned around to face the four scruffy looking boys, unaware of a baseball landing a few feet from where her back was now turned to. When she looked towards them, the four boys burst into laughter.

"Hahahahaha! Look at her! She's got pock marks all over her cheeks!", The second boy mocked cruelly as he began having a laughing fit.

"Yeah, your face is ugly!", The third boy taunted.

Over at the baseball field…

Suzuki was at batting practice for his school baseball team, currently sitting at the sidelines watching his teammates play and feeling sorry for himself.

"I guess Asuka-chan wasn't interested in me. But now that I think about it, I said it was like falling in love at first sight for me. Would that mean I'm superficial for falling in love with a girl who I'd never even met because I liked the way she looked? I guess so and that's probably why she rejected me. I'm such an idiot!", Suzuki thought to himself self-deprecatingly. His attention was brought back to his teammates when the sound of a metal bat hitting a home run rang throughout the area. Suzuki watched the baseball sail through the sky as it landed away from the field and towards the street nearby.

"Damn! Out of bounds!", the pitcher cursed. "Yo, Suzuki!"

"Huah! W-w-what?", Suzuki stammers as he was visibly startled.

"Go get that out of the park for us, would ya, please?"

"Y-yeah. Sure.", Suzuki responds as he stands up from the bench and runs to retrieve the ball.

Back to Caitlin…

"What are you being so mean for?! These aren't pock marks, they're freckles, and I can't control the fact that I have them! They're a part of me and I can't change that!", Caitlin yelled at the boys that were bullying her as her face became hot with frustration.

"Holy shit! Look at her! Her head looks like a strawberry! That's way too fucking funny!", the fourth boy mocked as he slaps his knee while all four of them laughed hysterically. They didn't notice Caitlin seething with anger, blonde hair flaring out menacingly and hulking towards them, and Caitlin proceeded with tapping on the fourth bully's shoulder. As he turned to face who was behind him, his face was smashed in by Caitlin's fist which had broken his nose and made it bleed, followed by a slug to the gut. The other bullies took notice but Caitlin advanced in on them before they could do anything, the third being slapped in the face and drop kicked to the ground, the second having his groin caved in by Caitlin's boot, and the first being decked square in the jaw repeatedly as the blonde girl attempted to punch his teeth out. All four boys were laying on the ground whimpering in pain, fear, and regret as Caitlin grabbed the fourth bully by his collar, hoping to give out a second dose of her fury when she noticed one of the baseball players she had been watching a few minutes ago was standing a ways away from her holding a baseball in his hand while he stared at Caitlin and the four boys on the ground.

"WHAT'RE YOU LOOKIN' AT?!", Caitlin yelled as she shook her fist at him as if challenging him to try and fight her.

"N-nothing!", Suzuki exclaimed as he hurried back to the baseball field, not wanting to face this girl's wrath. Caitlin huffed and tossed the boy she had been gripping by his shirt into the others before humming cheerily and began to briskly walk home.

Asakusa Secret Shinobi Shop

3:38 PM

Jake had heard about a secret store in Asakusa designed to exclusively sell shinobi goods and equipment solely to shinobi of the state, including students that were still learning the ninja arts. Jake had never been here before, until now, since he wanted to buy one of those storage-purpose sealing scrolls he saw Ikaruga, Katsuragi, and Yagyu utilize the other day that they had been at the mall. He wanted to buy a bouquet of flowers from a local florist and purchase a ceramic spider from an art shop nearby as well, and had been hoping to purchase and use his own storage scroll to keep the gifts from being ruined.

Jake opens the entrance door and looked around inside to see various ninja tools and accessories lined along the walls and shelves, including, but not limited to, shuriken, kunai, katana blades, fuuma shuriken, scythes, war fans, metal greaves, iron gauntlets, training staffs, lances, knight's swords, cleavers, senbon needles, spiked maces, war hammers, axes, canes, knuckle dusters, ball chains, regular chains, smoke bombs, ninjutsu scrolls, elemental scrolls, sealing &amp; storage scrolls, Shinobi Transformation scrolls, healing ointments, and for some odd reason, rubber dog shit (as a boy by the name of Harold Hutchins once said, "You never know when fake, rubber dog poop will come in handy."). Jake noticed that there wasn't a shopkeeper in sight at the moment, perhaps they were on their break or in a back storage room somewhere. He saw a bell on the store counter and rang it once.

"Is anybody here?", Jake asked loudly. Shuffling is heard behind a tatami door in the back of the store as a girl's voice responds to his question.

"I'm sorry! I'll be there in a second!", the girl calls out from the back room. A moment passes and a short-statured teenage girl slides the tatami door open and rushes behind the counter to properly greet her customer.

"I'm sorry about that! I just got here from school and was changing into my work clothes. My name is Ayame. How can I help you?"

"Ayame, this is my first time here, so I don't know anything about this place or how it works, but what's the most portable storage scroll you sell here?", Jake asks the now-named shopkeeper.

"Hmm… I don't know if we have any portable storage scrolls left in stock, but let me check.", Ayame smiles sweetly as she climbs up a ladder running along tracks on the scroll shelves and searches the upper ones for what Jake had asked for. Jake accidentally gets an upskirt view of Ayame's rear and quickly looks away from there with a blush on his face as he decides to browse around some more inside the shop. The entrance opens up as a boy slightly older-looking than Jake enters the store and pulls a large battle axe from his own scroll and sets it on the store counter. Jake noticed that this boy was tall like him and had a large flat-top afro hairstyle with mint-green eyes and dark-colored skin, and wore a facial expression that gave off the impression of him being constantly bored. He was wearing a plain white men's tank top, baggy cargo shorts that were a grayish-blue color, and white skater-style shoes with blue laces and soles matching that color. Mostly though, Jake was surprised to see another shinobi student that wasn't a girl.

"Hi, Curtis! Are you here to get your axe a refurbishing again?", Ayame asks the other boy.

"Yeah, I've got a very important mission coming up, so I have to get ready.", the now-identified Curtis replied blandly. He looked over to where Jake was, noticing that the latter had been smiling at him since he had arrived in the Shinobi Shop.

"You must be Jake Forest, correct?", Curtis inquired, surprising Jake that someone he's never met knew his full name.

"Depends on who's asking?", Jake asked in return, his smile fading and mind now on full alert mode.

"That would be me, obviously.", Curtis replied. "My name's Curtis. Full name is Curtis Brown."

"Jake Forest, although you already knew that for some reason.", Jake introduced himself as he held out his hand and the two boys shook on it.

"Mr. Jake, you're in luck! We have one portable storage scroll left!", Ayame spoke to get the curly-haired boy's attention.

"Alright, thanks. How much is it, by the way?"

"It'll be eight-hundred zeni.", Ayame smiles.

"Uhh… What's a zeni? It it like a penny, or pence, or yen?", Jake asks with a confused look.

"Zeni is the shinobi currency.", Curtis explained. "Shouldn't you have heard of it?"

"No, I haven't heard of it! Why didn't anybody tell me that ninja use their own form of currency?!", Jake yelled, looking ready to pull his own hair out in aggravation. Jake heard a chime in his pocket go off, and reached into it to see that his phone had set off a notification telling him it was halfway past four o'clock.

"Dammit! I'm gonna be late if I don't get going!", Jake cursed as he put his phone back inside his pocket.

"What's the hurry? Do you have a date?", Ayame asked.

"As a matter of fact, yes! I do have a date! Bye, Ayame! Bye, Curtis! Nice meeting the two of you!", Jake said as he left in a hurry, running outside the shop door before flash-stepping out of Ayame and Curtis' sight.

"He sure is an odd one.", Ayame giggled.

"Well, I have to get going, too. Can't be late for whatever my mission may be, otherwise my sensei wouldn't have chosen me for it.", Curtis yawned.

"When do you need your axe back?", Ayame asks.

"I'll pick it up tomorrow, since that's when I'll need it.", the male shinobi replied as he placed 2400 zeni on the counter next to bladed weapon.

"I'll start working on it right away so it can be ready by then. See you tomorrow!", Ayame told him merrily.

"Later.", Curtis waved in return as he exits the shop.

Hanzo Academy Male Dormitory

5:28 PM

After Jake had left the shinobi tools shop, Jake rushed into the art gallery where he had seen the ceramic spider sitting in the building's front window and had purchased it for 1800 yen from the nice man who ran it, the man telling Jake that the latter reminded him of a girl around his age that had been to his shop sometime ago. Jake left afterwards and bought a bouquet of lavender flowers from the florist nearby in the old Asakusa shopping district, hoping Asuka would like the aroma they gave off, and returned to the Hanzo classroom. He had heard someone cooking in the kitchen and not wanting anyone to become aware of his presence and see the gifts he had bought, he snuck into his room in the male Hanzo dormitory and shut the door tight. He carefully placed the ceramic spider, which he named "Kumo-chan", on his shelf with his various figures and placed the lavenders on top of his bed. Making sure the gifts were safe, Jake grabbed a change of clothes and proceeded into the boy's shower room to freshen up.

Fifteen minutes later…

"Yes! The cake is finished, so now I just have to let it sit for a few minutes to cool off and I can decorate it with frosting.", Asuka said to herself merrily as she began cleaning the cooking utensils in the kitchen sink and once she had finished with that, she moved on to throwing away her trash and putting any cooking ingredients she no longer needed back where she got them, leaving a bowl of homemade chocolate frosting, an unfrosted chocolate cake laying on a flat foil pan with raised handles on the sides, a silver butter knife, and a tube of red vanilla frosting left sitting on the counter.

Asuka used the butter knife to spread the necessary layer of chocolate coating onto the cake, and once finished with that, began to lick the leftover frosting from her hand. She hummed in delight as she enjoyed the taste that graced her tastebuds as she sucked on each digit, making sure not to miss any of the chocolate-goodness that had stuck as residue to her fingers. After she was done indulging herself, she washed both of her hands with soap before opening the tube of red frosting and drew a red heart outline across the top of the cake and writing the kanji "Aijo" inside the outline. Asuka smiled warmly seeing her completed work and carefully places a lid over the cake and moves it to a safe spot. She then put away the tube of red frosting in the cabinet it came from and wiped down the area she had been cooking in with a wet cloth, leaving no traces that she had been there at all. The sounds of footsteps were heard in the hallway as Jake entered the kitchen, planning to make himself dinner and was surprised to see Asuka standing there, her wearing an equally surprised look on her face.

"Oh! Hey, Asuka! I didn't know you were still here, haha…", Jake smiled as he nervously scratched the back of his head.

"Ah! H-how long have you been back?", Asuka asks.

"About twenty minutes or so. I was in the shower up until right now. Why?"

"Oh, no reason. No reason at all!", Asuka responds quickly. She hoped he hadn't seen her baking the cake she was going to give him, not wanting the surprise to be ruined by him knowing about it beforehand, though a wave of relief spread through her body once she heard he had only been showering. She then realized that if Jake had been showering, then he must have had been completely naked for ten minutes or longer than that while she had been in the kitchen cooking.

"Hey, Asuka. Are you okay? Your face looks a little red, so…"

"No, I'm fine! Totally okay!", the brunette replies hastily.

"Okay, I just wanted to make sure, 'cause I care about your well-being and stuff.", Jake told her, hoping his statement didn't sound too mushy. A moment of silence passes between the two second-years before Jake speaks again.

"Have you eaten dinner yet?", he asks.

"No."

"Wanna go get a carry-out pizza and eat it here?", he asks. Asuka is silent for a moment as she thinks to herself before replying.

"...I'd like that.", Asuka smiles at him kindly. Jake could hardly not help himself from blushing before smiling as well.

"I'll go call the pizza place and order our food while I put my shoes on.", he tells his classmate.

"I'll put on mine, too.", Asuka agrees as both head to their respective dorms and put on their shoes. In her room, Asuka grabs a sweatshirt and puts it on before checking on Gamachibi and making sure he didn't break while she was gone. She tightens her red scarf closer around her neck and face and heads into the Ninja Room to wait for Jake. In his room, Jake checks on the lavender flowers as well as Kumo-chan the ceramic spider to make sure they were fine and did not disappear. Jake calls the pizzeria and places an order for a pepperoni pizza to be picked up and once that was done, Jake performs a summoning jutsu and a poof of smoke appears in front of him as a small spider with two pink almond-shaped eyes with a single lash on each and a red &amp; blue pattern on it's abdomen appears into existence.

"Hi, Scarlet. Did you miss me?", Jake cooed.

"Daddy!", the spider smiles happily as she jumps on Jake's left shoulder and nuzzles her head into his cheek affectionately.

"Me and Asuka are gonna go get some food and bring it back here to eat. I thought you'd want to come along.", Jake smiles.

"I go with Daddy and Mama 'Suka?", Scarlet asks cutely.

"Yup, so climb aboard, squirt!", Jake grins as Scarlet ascends higher on Jake's body and nestles herself in his afro, and once she's secure, Jake puts on a zip-up hoodie (but leaves the hood down so Scarlet won't suffocate) and pockets some money to pay for the pizza before leaving and walking down the hallway with Scarlet in tow to meet Asuka inside the classroom.

"Hey Asuka. Hope you don't mind, someone's gonna come with us and she wants to say hi to you before we head out.", Jake smiles as his hair rustles a bit before Scarlet emerges from it and greets Asuka.

"Mama 'Suka, I misses you!", Scarlet shouts gleefully.

"Aww, Scarlet. How are you, cutie?", Asuka asks as she holds her hand to Jake's shoulder and let's the baby ninpo spider crawl up her arm. When Asuka first met Scarlet, she was pretty freaked out by her (then again, at that time, Scarlet was about as big as an SUV), but after seeing how sweet and innocent the spider was, she couldn't help but find her adorable and endearing from that point onward. Asuka hoped she would have a similar relationship like Jake and Scarlet do once she got the summoning contract with the ninja toads her family was allied with.

"So, you ready?", Jake asks his fellow second year as Scarlet returns to her father's nest upon his head.

"Yeah, let's go.", Asuka smiles as she and Jake rush out of the school's back entrance and towards the pizza place.

Hanzo Boy's Dormitory

6:31 PM

Once Jake and Asuka had picked up their pizza and returned to the ninja living spaces, Jake asked Asuka to wait outside his room while he tidied it up (he was actually placing Kumo-chan and the bouquet of lavenders inside his bathroom so she wouldn't see them) and set up three plates with a slice of pizza on each, one being cut considerably thinner than the other two, which were regular sized sliced. Jake handed Asuka her pizza and placed the plate with the thin slice in next to Scarlet.

"Careful, you two. It's still hot.", Jake said as he peeled a pepperoni from his own slice and gave it to his spider, hoping it would tide her over. Scarlet gladly accepted it as she happily nibbled on the extra pepperoni Jake had given her.

"How is it, Asuka?", Jake asks as his fellow second year takes a bite of her food.

"Good!", Asuka smiles as she swallows her food.

"Hehehe!", Jake laughs.

"What?"

"You've got pizza sauce on your cheeks.", Jake grins as he brings a napkin to Asuka's blushing face and wipes her cheeks clean.

"If you want to know, there's a trick you can do to keep that from happening again. Just fold it from the bottom.", Jake tells her.

"Like this?", Asuka asks as she folds her slice so the two ends of the pizza crust meet.

"Perfect! You got it!", Jake grins as he takes a bite from his own pizza slice, relishing the juicy flavor that assaults his tongue as he does so.

A few minutes of silence passes between the two second-years, both not saying anything and just simply enjoy eating together, and eventually both decide that they'd had enough pizza for that night. Scarlet had finished eating and fallen asleep on Jake's bed, the male ninja affectionately scratching her abdomen with his finger before recalling the spider back into the pocket dimension she resided in. Once that was done, Jake looked at Asuka with a blush and smiled nervously before he broke the silence.

"Uh, I gotta use the bathroom really quick, but you can wait for me to come back. I won't be long.", Jake tells Asuka. He didn't have to use the bathroom (though he decided he might as well do that anyway), he just wanted to grab Asuka's gifts from their hiding spots and finally tell her how he felt about her. Asuka, meanwhile, decided this was a perfect time for her to get Jake's gift from her room and his cake from the kitchen.

"Oh. Okay, I need to go get something from my room anyways, so I'll take the pizza and put it in the class refrigerator and come back here.", Asuka smiles as she scratches the back of her head. Jake retires himself to his bathroom, and Asuka grabs the paper plates they had been eating on as well as the napkins they had used and sets them on top of the pizza box she was holding. She leaves Jake's room and enters the kitchen where she throws away the used plates and napkins in the garbage and puts the leftover pizza in the class fridge before washing her hands and retrieving Jake's cake from the kitchen counter and brings it into Jake's room and sets it on the ground next to his bed before leaving once more into her room to freshen up. She grabs Gamachibi, still obscured in the wrapping tissue it came in and returns to Jake's room, right on time as he emerges from his room holding both hands behind his back and setting something on the ground on the other side of his bed.

"Hey, Asuka.", Jake blushed.

"Jeiku-kun, there's something I'd like to tell you.", Asuka says to him.

"W-what would that be?", the afro-haired boy asks shyly, allowing the brunette to speak first.

"When I first met you, you had just been impaled by a dark monster by a shrine in the woods, and even though I had never seen you before, let alone know what your name was, I was afraid that you were going to die from that attack. Of course, that didn't happen, and we ended up introducing ourselves when you woke up.", Asuka laughed.

"Something sprung up inside me after that, and I felt happy whenever you were around me, but at that time, I was still a naive person who didn't know how to act around boys, having all of my schoolmates from when I was little up until a couple of months ago being solely made up of other girls. So being around a boy for once was exciting for me, since it was a completely new feeling. When you were told of Hikaru and how you were his reincarnation, I thought you would have not wanted to have any part in the prophecy and responsibilities potentially being forced upon you, but you accepted your role in stride and you were even excited about it. After that, I knew you would be an excellent shinobi once you had joined us, and Katsu-nee, Ikaruga-sama, Yagyu-chan, and Hibari-chan all accepted you immediately.", Asuka stopped and took a breather before continuing.

"At first, I had feelings for you because you were a boy that I was familiar with, but I never said anything because I was afraid you liked one of the others instead, and a couple of days ago, I was even more confused about you than normal because Suzuki, a boy I had never met and whose name I didn't know, immediately told me he loved me as the first words he had spoken to me. I didn't know how I should sort out my feelings until Jiji told me how my mom and dad met and why they loved each other. At that moment, I realized that my feelings for you were genuine and not because you were the first boy to come along into my life.", Asuka spoke as she began to tear up.

"I've only known you for almost three months now, but even then, I feel like we've spent so much time together, and I want to continue doing that with you. From right now, to when we're both grown up, to when we're both Jiji's age, and even beyond death, I want to be with you forever...", Asuka looked up at him with a loving smile and tears running down her face.

"Because… I love you, Jeiku-kun. I always have, and I always will!"

Jake was in complete shock and was utterly speechless as tears ran down his face as well. Asuka, the girl he truly loved, had just confessed that she felt the same way he did about her. This whole time, he had been afraid to speak his mind because he too had been afraid that she didn't feel the same way, but he now knew that she cared for him and he felt like a weight had been lifted from his shoulders.

"Asuka… *sniff* ...You beat me. You beat me to the punch, because I was going to tell you the same thing!", Jake wept as he reached next to his bed and Asuka was presented with a box wrapped in a gift bow and a bouquet of lavenders, all being held out to her by a tearful, but grinning Jake.

"Because… I love you, too! I love everything about you! Your eyes, your face, your heart, your soul, your personality, your intelligence, your creativeness, your willpower, and there's so much… there's so much more I love about you! I love you Asuka, you're the only girl I ever will love, and I accept your feelings! So please… please accept mine as well!"

"These are… for me?", Asuka asks as she takes the lavenders from Jake and sniffs them. They smell wonderful to her, she liked those flowers a lot. She would have to remind herself to look for a vase so that they didn't wilt anytime soon, and she set them next on Jake's nightstand before opening the box he had given her and saw a ceramic spider inside it along with a card labeled Kumo-chan.

"Do you like them?", Jake smiles shyly.

"Yes, I like them a lot. I'll cherish them forever.", Asuka grins at him as her cheeks redden as well.

"I'm glad you like them!", Jake laughs as he scratches the back of his head.

"Wow, this spider is almost like what I was going to give to you.", Asuka says as she hands Jake something concealed in wrapping tissue. He carefully takes it from her hands and gently unwraps the paper to be met by the sight of an adorable-looking ceramic frog.

"Haha! This is great! Thank you!", Jake smiles. "Does he have a name?"

"Yup! He's called Gamachibi!", Asuka tells him. "What about the spider you gave me?"

"Kumo-chan is her name."

"I'll take really good care of you, Kumo-chan!", Asuka speaks to the porcelain spider.

"And I'll take care of Gammy right here, too!", Jake agrees. He takes the ceramic frog over to his art shelf and gently places it next to the portrait of him Asuka had given to him a week ago. Once he's done, he turns around to see Asuka facing him as she presents a delicious looking chocolate cake to him. He notices red writing on top of it with the kanji Aijo ( meaning "love, affection") written on it. He takes it and sits down on his bed as Asuka does the same next to him. Jake sticks his finger in the chocolate frosting before looking at it and dabs the frosting on Asuka's cheek (This next part of the chapter is going to be what I like to call, a lemonade stand. So get your drinking glasses ready. -Frotendo).

"Hey, what are you doing?", Asuka asks.

"This.", Jake responds as he brings his mouth to the chocolate on Asuka's cheek and kisses her there. Asuka shudders with delight as Jake uses his tongue to sensually lick the frosting from her cheek before he moves back and gives her a goofy grin once he got it all. Asuka responds by removing the cake from his lap before setting it on his nightstand, sticks her own finger in the cake frosting, and dabs it on Jake's lips.

"Don't lick it away.", Asuka tells him as she licks the frosting that was still on her finger and brings her face to Jake's mouth before locking lips with him. Sparks run through the bodies of both second years and Asuka licks the chocolate frosting from Jake's mouth while she continues to kiss him, both of them moaning as their tongues intertwine together. Jake reluctantly breaks the kiss before laying down on his side and motions for Asuka to do the same next to him. Asuka responds by untying the ribbon that held her hair in a ponytail as her brown hair falls loose along her shoulders. She proceeds to lay down next him, and with Jake laying on the left side of the bed and Asuka on the right, Jake brings his body closer to Asuka as she does the same, with Jake's right hand meeting with Asuka's left as they interlock their fingers together before they resume their make out session. While kissing once more, Asuka slips her right hand under Jake's shirt and feels up his slim, but powerful chest. It was rock-solid, but also soft to touch at the same time, and she couldn't get enough of this feeling on her hand. Jake gasps with pleasure, and not wanting to be outdone, slips his hand under Asuka's shirt and gently caresses her right breast.

"Am I hurting you?", Jake asks with concern.

"N-no. Not at all.", Asuka replies quickly.

"Okay, good.", Jake sighs with relief as he moves his hand inside Asuka's shirt and begins to gently grope her left bosom. He couldn't get over how soft Asuka's breasts were and the fact that she was allowing him to touch them made him even more happy.

"You do it much softer than Katsu-nee, now that I think about it.", Asuka tells him softly as she moves her hand down to Jake's stomach and massages him there. They do this for a little while longer before Asuka speaks again.

"Are you… aroused?", she asks Jake. Jake blushes and shyly averts his gaze before answering.

"It's kind of embarrassing, but yes.", Jake replies as his face turns red.

"If you want, I can relieve you…", Asuka suggests shyly. She can't believe she was offering this to him already, but she couldn't help but want to make the boy she loved feel good.

"If you're fine with it, then sure."

Asuka nods before pulling a blanket over herself and Jake before she unzips his pants and, using both hands, begins to gently massage him there.

"Asuka…", Jake says the name of his lover as he brings Asuka into another kiss, the latter continuing to massage his g******s for him under the covers.

"Do you like this?", Asuka asks him with starry eyes.

"It feels really nice, and… it makes me really happy.", Jake smiles as the pleasure inside his p**** continue to build up.

"You're the only boy I'd ever do this for.", Asuka tells him.

"You're the only girl I'd want to have this done to me by.", Jake replies back. Asuka's hands were doing wonders for him, and he felt his release was inevitable.

"Is it about to happen?"

"Yeah. It's just about here."

"Jeiku-kun…"

"Asuka…"

The two second years lock lips as Asuka massages him faster at an ever-increasing rate, and before they knew it Jake had reached his climax and released inside Asuka's hands, leaving a sticky mess inside her palms. Asuka smiles as Jake removes the blanket from on top of him and the former heads inside the male student's bathroom to clean her hands, while Jake cleans himself off with a box of tissues before he changes into a fresh pair of underwear and pajama bottoms. Once Asuka had finished, Jake got up to turn off the lights in his room before crawling back into his bed next to Asuka. He cuddles next to the short brunette girl and clasps his right hand with her left one before he speaks again.

"Asuka?"

"Yes, Jeiku-kun?", she responds.

"I just wanted to say once again that I love you, and promise me that you won't let go?", Jake asks.

"I love you, too. And I'll keep that promise.", Asuka tells him sweetly.

"Good.", Jake sighs softly as both of them huddle closer to the other, before both begin to drift off to sleep.

"I won't let go. Not ever.", Asuka tells herself before she fades into unconsciousness. She had finally found the shield that would go with her sword.

Inside Jake's head, he found himself standing in a empty white void save for a young man with wispy blue hair and golden silk clothing.

"Hikaru?", Jake asks, wondering if his eyes were playing tricks on him.

"I see you've finally connected with my spirit, ever since you encountered my shrine some time ago.", Hikaru smiled.

"I've had access to some of your light powers before, why is it now that I see you since that one day?", Jake inquires curiously.

"Because you've finally felt requited love from another person and given it to them as well, and for that, you've unlocked more of his power within you.", Hikaru spoke as Jake began to glow with light energy.

"What is this?", Jake asked in awe as a window of light opens itself on Jake's chest and a red, beating heart floats out of Jake's body.

"This is the power of the first stage of The Light Titan Armor.", Hikaru answers as Jake's beating heart dissipates into tiny balls of light, before flowing upon his entire body and forming a layer of metallic armor over his skin and clothing. Jake's upper body and thighs have been covered in bright red robotic armor, his hands becoming sleek gauntlets in the process, while his feet and shins had enveloped in dark blue metal boots. His face was now obscured by an elongated octagon-shaped mask that was a matching shade of blue to his lower legs, decorated with three slashes on each cheek and two eye-holes that his own chocolate-colored irises could be seen through, though his black pupils had become a glowing neon shade of blue. Visible energy surged through his body as Jake's chi pathways lit up underneath his armor, and a severed path in his lower back which had been the cause of the pain he had felt there reconnected itself and an intense flash of light erupted from Jake's body.

"Use this power for the good of those that you love, Jake. And end my brother's reign of chaos.", Hikaru imparts his words as he begins to slowly fade away.

"Wait! I have to ask you something!", Jake calls out.

"What is it?"

"Yesterday morning, in class, I had gotten a migraine and saw various images flash inside my mind. Who are the gold robot and the woman with red hair, and who was that purple-haired girl I saw you interacting with?"

"I can't say just yet who the first two beings you saw are…", Jake hung his head down in disappointment at Hikaru's answer.

"But, that girl you saw my younger self with… her name is Samui, and she would end up becoming my future wife and help me accomplish great deeds during our time together.", Hikaru smiled as he fully disappeared from Jake's consciousness.

Jake's eyes shot open as he awoke in his bed once more. He glanced his eyes towards his analog clock, which read 5:13 AM, before he felt shuffling next to him. In the fading moonlight, Jake saw Asuka asleep on his chest, quietly breathing next to him as drool leaked from her mouth onto his shirt.

"So, you're a night-drooler, are you?", Jake remarked to himself as he gently ran his fingers through the girl's hair. Asuka clutches onto Jake's torso tighter as she softly breathes in her sleep.

"Well, that's alright, I'm not bothered by it.", Jake smiles contently as he drifts back into his slumber.

Unknown Location

5:20 AM

It was still dark in the night sky, and at a street lamp on a dark corner stood a woman with red hair by herself. Her hair was tied into a bun at the back and she wore a black leather jacket that was partially unbuttoned since her bursting breasts could not be contained if it was completely buttoned up. She had a short black skirt held up by a brown leather belt with a silver buckle, and wore dark pantyhose leggings and black high heeled shoes. She looked at her watch before five figures appeared before her.

"Ah. I'm glad you five made it here on time.", the red-haired woman addressed everyone.

"Of course we would, Sensei. I have to be told of my mission, after all.", the first figure stepped forward to reveal the face of Curtis.

"If this is about Curtis, why did we have to meet you here too?", the second figure yawned as he stepped forward to reveal a handsome-faced boy with long, flowing blond hair. He had mischievous blue eyes and wore a white button-up shirt that was left completely undone, exposing his solid abs and pectoral muscles completely. He wore blue pants barely being held above his waist by an unbuckled brown belt, with black male loafers completing his look.

"We're all Sensei's students, Hayate. We all need to be present for any matters regarding our duties as shinobi.", the third figure chided as a male teenager stepped into the light. He had brown bowl cut hair that partially flared out behind his ears and bottle-lens glasses that were slightly lowered so that his aqua-blue eyes could be seen by others. He wore an olive-green t-shirt and torn denim jeans accompanied by black sneakers that had laces of the same green color as his shirt. He had an almost-perfect poindexter appearance which was only offset by him having an even more charming face than Hayate did.

"Otaku, we may be shinobi and have ninja responsibilities, but I still need my beauty sleep, dammit!", Hayate retorted irritably.

"Will both of you boys shut it?! You're gonna wake up the people sleeping inside their homes!", a female voice chastised as as two figures emerged from the darkness together. The first figure was a teenaged girl whom the voice that had just been speaking belonged to, and she had short brunette hair done in a modern pixie-cut and ocean blue eyes that held annoyance within them. She wore a snug red zip-up hoodie over her somewhat flat-chested torso along with a navy-blue skirt, black &amp; white striped stockings, and white shoes with red laces and soles. The second figure was her twin brother, a boy with unruly medium length shaggy brown hair with glazed, unmotivated burgundy eyes and square glasses. He wore an unzipped blue zip-up hoodie with a brown licensed pop culture shirt underneath it, tan-colored dress slacks with a black synthetic-material belt, and blue sneakers with white laces and soles.

"You know, you're being quite loud yourself, Harumi. It's not good to be a hypocrite.", the male twin replied monotonously.

"You shut up too, Haruo! You're also speaking loud, idiot!"

"Define loud."

"Loud, as in you speaking at a high volume where others are better able to hear you, and at this early in the morning, that's not a good thing!"

Haruo turned to face his twin sister and began to move his lips as if speaking, though no noise came from his mouth.

"What?"

"I asked you if that was quiet enough for your liking.", Haruo replied snarkily.

"GO TO FUCKING HELL, YOU CLOD!", Harumi yelled as she and her brother prepared to go at each other.

"Enough! All of you! Be silent and let me speak!", the red-haired woman barked.

"Curtis, I'm giving you a very important mission. One of my former tenants, Jake Forest, is a shinobi student at Hanzo Academy who has been battling against Hebijo Clandestine Girl's Academy, yet he has no Hebijo counterpart to battle against. Our faction needs Jake to become fully realized as a ninja so that he may help us in the upcoming war against the Youma, and his growth as a shinobi will be stunted if he has nobody to fight against. Curtis, I am assigning you to head to Hebijo's location alone with nothing but your clothes, weapons, and scrolls. Your goal will be to join the Hebijo elite class as their sixth member and act as Jake's opposite for the foreseeable future. You will remain there and gather intel on the enemy that will be retrieved by me on an unspecified date, and you shall not contact me or your classmates directly in any way, shape, or form while you are undercover, so as not to inform them of your true allegiances. Understood?"

"Perfectly, Akira-sensei.", Curtis acknowledged.

"And Otaku will lead the rest of the class in Curtis' absence.", Akira spoke once again.

"I'll do my best to live up to Curtis' reputation as class leader.", Otaku declares with honor.

"Aww, what the hell?! C'mon, why does Mr. Nerd have to be in charge?!", Hayate groaned.

"Because he's proven himself to be the most mature and responsible of the rest of you. So throw away your ego and suck it up.", Akira explained coldly while Hayate just pouted.

"We're all heading back to the classroom. Curtis, you know your mission. Fulfill it.", Akira told her oldest student.

"I won't fail you, Sensei.", Curtis replied, and with that, the dark-skinned boy vanished in a swirl of leaves.

"So, Akira-sensei, when's your next hot date with this Kiriya man?", Hayate replied cheekily.

"W-we haven't sorted out a day for another one yet!", Akira replied hotly as she became flustered from her student's question.

"And you have no right to ask about my love life, so know your place!", Akira told Hayate as she sent a powerful kick from her heel into the blond boy's face, sending Hayate a ways away from where he once stood. As Hayate twitched on the ground in pain, Akira took a swig from a bottle of sake before looking at her remaining students.

"Would any of you three like to ask me anything?", Akira asked as if proposing a challenge.

"No, thank you."

"No, thanks."

"Hell no.", Otaku, Harumi, and Haruo replied, not wanting to face their red-haired sensei's fury.

"I thought so.", Akira remarked as she took another sip of her alcohol.

End of Chapter 8

Holy shit! I've finally finished the eighth chapter of this story after such a long time! I hope you all weren't disappointed by CBL's big return, but, hey. I did my best, and hopefully you enjoyed it. I just want to say thank you so much to all of the people who've liked, favorited, reviewed, and followed this story and me over this past year. It's what gave me the motivation to finish this chapter that you've all been wanting, and I truly appreciate that. So, yes, Jasuka is the official pairing for CBL. I know in the very first chapter, I said that the OC would not be paired with Asuka for the sake of nonconformity with other people's SK fanfics, but honestly, opinions that people have a long time ago are likely to have changed in the present or will change in the future. In this story's case, I had mapped out the entire series in my mind but I couldn't conceive an epilogue to this story where I had paired Jake with one of the other Hanzo girls, or any of the other girls in the franchise. So I chose Asuka since she worked best into my conceived ending to CBL. By the way, I'm not planning for there to be another long hiatus anytime soon, and I had been writing Chapter Nine at the same time as this one, so it's already been started for a while now. I've also had ideas for other fanfics, though I'll save those for another day, if ever. As for the new characters and teases in this chapter, I hope you enjoyed them, and hopefully I don't get any flak for the citrus parts. If you want to like, follow, favorite, or review, you're free to do it if you so please, but if you don't want to, eh. No pressure. I'll see you real soon with Chapter Nine, and Happy Holidays. Kisses! *mwah!* - Frotendo.

P.S. I also made a DeviantArt account some time ago so I could upload official character art for the OCs in this story. Nothing's uploaded as of right now, but I'll try to post on there sometime soon. Be warned, I nowhere near as good of an artist as many, many other people on DVA are, and I still don't have a computer, so my digital drawing tools are pretty primitive. Hopefully I'm able to remedy that problem this Christmas. My fingers are crossed!

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